


Throw a Lucky Man to the Sea

by Anonymous_Ostrich



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nagisa's POV, lots of fluff eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-01-14 02:46:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1249876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous_Ostrich/pseuds/Anonymous_Ostrich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Meeting Rei Ryugazaki was not an outstanding event, nor was it stupendous in a way that was even remotely befitting what followed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> FAIR WARNING: This fic is technically unfinished. To be honest with you all, I started this story without a clear ending/resolution in mind, and it turned around to bite me in the ass when I realized I had written myself into a corner. That said, the last chapter actually ends in a pretty satisfying way, so we can just pretend that was always meant to be the end, never-mind the loose ends and plot points that were never expanded on. Either way, I got tired of seeing it as an unfinished work and didn't have the heart to delete it.

Meeting Rei Ryugazaki was not an outstanding event, nor was it stupendous in a way that was even remotely befitting what followed.

It was perfectly ordinary as far as meetings go, a little stiff for Nagisa's tastes. There were quite a few Iwatobi students taking the train to the high school, and there was plenty of nervous chatter filling the compartment as first-years speculated on what classes they would be assigned to and who their teachers would be. Nagisa was eager to join in, and had been talking idly with two fellow first-year girls before he'd noticed him. It wasn't as if Rei gave off an aura of importance or possessed a charm that Nagisa was unable to resist. It was because he was alone, (and Nagisa disliked loneliness,) eyes peering down purposefully at a book that was nestled in one hand, its spine bent in a way that suggested it had been read numerous times.

Nagisa scooted down the seat, filling the space to the boy's left. The dark-haired boy didn't so much as twitch, not even an eye-dart in Nagisa's direction.

"Hi," Nagisa said, sitting on his hands and swinging his feet. "I'm Hazuki Nagisa. You're a first year too, right?"

No movement. In fact, there was no indication that the boy had even heard him until finally his lips parted and a disinterested sound escaped.

"Whatever gave it away." came his stiff reply, eyes still set on his book. The sarcasm was lost on Nagisa.

"Your tie!" Nagisa chirped with a laugh. "Are you nervous about the opening assembly? I wonder what class I'll be in. I think that's important, what class you're in. I mean, you have to see those people _every day_ , you know?"

"It hardly matters," the boy continued. "Furthermore, please stop talking to me. Your voice is exhausting to listen to."

Nagisa fell into a stunned silence. It wasn't as if he had never been spoken to like that before, or that he expected everyone he met to be overly jovial. He had experienced bullying, but this wasn't that. It was defensive, a reflex, like he had hit just the right spot on the boy's knee to cause the leg to jerk. He didn't seem cruel, standoffish perhaps, preoccupied, but there was nothing to be done about that and it really wasn't any of Nagisa's business. He sputtered an apology and skillfully maneuvered back to his previous companions.

He glanced at Rei Ryugazaki once more, several minutes later, and with his eyes he traced a bubble around the boy that spanned several feet in all directions. If he stared long enough, he was sure that the bubble was real, in some form.

.

.

.

The opening assembly was as boring as Nagisa assumed it would be. Three quarters of the principals speech went completely ignored as Nagisa let his attention wander, too busy looking around at all of the other students and subtly waving to a few people he recognized from his middle school.

Students filed out of the gym, chatting and laughing, and Nagisa once again caught sight of the taller bespeckled boy he'd seen on the train. He was walking in that bubble again, eyes trained forward, jaw set, expression neutral. In moments he was lost in the crowd, and Nagisa nearly plowed over a second-year trying to follow his trail.

"Hey," came a voice from behind him just after Nagisa apologized to the girl he'd almost knocked over, "Hazuki, right?"

Nagisa turned, his face lighting up in recognition. "Tsutomu-kun?" he asked, hoping that he was right. He usually was, he was good with faces.

The brunette smiled. "You _do_ remember! Long time no see."

"I haven't seen you since elementary school, how have you been?" Nagisa asked excitedly.

"As good as can be expected. We're in the same high school with _a lot_ of people from the elementary school. You went to a different middle school then most of us, huh?"

"Yeah, and I missed you guys. It kind of sucked sometimes, being the only one that went to a different school." Nagisa laughed awkwardly.

"But now you're at Iwatobi with everyone again, so that's good, right?" Tsutomu reasoned.

"I guess."

"Hey, so," Tsutomu pushed a little closer to Nagisa, directing the both of them into the flow of human traffic. "I saw you talking to Ryugazaki on the train."

"You were taking the train too? I didn't even notice!" Nagisa exclaimed. He frowned. "Who's Ryugazaki?"

"Wa- Seriously, you don't know?" Tsutomu stopped, clamping a hand down on Nagisa's shoulder.

"Know what?"

"That guy you were talking to, mister High-and-Mighty with his nose stuck in a book? That was Ryugazaki Rei. No _wonder_ you were talking to him, _shit_ , you don't even know about him, huh?"

Nagisa stared at Tsutomu imploringly, large pink eyes blinking daftly.

"Okay, so, that guy was kind of notorious at the middle school. He's as asshole, you understand? He didn't have a single friend. Every girl that ever confessed to him, he shot her down before she could even finish her sentence. Once, a girl left him a love letter in his shoe locker, and he returned it to her _ripped in half_."

"Mmmhmm," Nagisa hummed, arms crossed, "I get it, he's an asshole. That isn't really a surprise or anything, I sort of figured out that bit on my own. He's actually _notorious_ for that?"

Tsutomu shook his head, and his face screwed up with the intensity of telling something akin to a ghost story. "No, he's notorious for being _bad luck_."

"Bad luck?" Nagisa repeated, cocking his head.

"Apparently when he was in elementary school he had to switch schools _six times_ , because whenever he got close to anyone, really bad things would start happening to them. It's like he's jinxed."

Nagisa shoved Tsutomu in the shoulder, throwing him off balance. "Come on," he laughed.

Tsutomu shoved back. "I'm being serious!" he said earnestly. "He curses people or something! There was talk of black magic shit in middle school, no joke."

"He doesn't really look like the black magic type," Nagisa giggled, shaking his head.

"Hey, I'm giving you friendly advice, here. Leave that guy alone, just don't talk to him." he groaned exaggeratingly. "I mean, girls are stupid, they follow him all over the place regardless of what a dick he is. They dig that whole _aloof, forbidden love_ bullshit. But there's no reason for _you_ to go getting cursed, too."

"No one's getting cursed!" Nagisa laughed. "I mean, thanks for worrying, but I wasn't trying to be his best friend, or anything like that. I was just making conversation."

"I bet that went real dandy."

" _Heh…_ Yeah," Nagisa said, his head turning automatically in the direction that he'd seen Ryugazaki walk off earlier.

Bad luck and jinxes were fun to talk about, and convenient to blame everyday occurrences on, but they weren't _real_ , not really. And even if Ryugazaki thought it was true himself, wouldn't his abrasive behavior be an effort to keep other people safe? No, it was much more likely that he was your run-of-the-mill, anti-social loner. Whoever he was, it had nothing to do with Nagisa, so there was really no point in thinking about it.

As the sea of students started clearing, Nagisa and Tsutomu (or Hibiki-chan, Nagisa had begun to call him towards the end of their conversation) realized they hadn't yet checked what class they were in. Together they went to view the boards, stuck standing behind a rather tall, broad-shouldered second-year boy who was apparently checking for his friends name when he realized he was blocking their view and apologetically moved aside.

Nagisa found his class just as the taller boy located the name he had been looking for. He seemed pleased as he walked away, and Nagisa wondered if he and his friend had been placed in the same class together.

Hibiki was having trouble finding his class, and so Nagisa helped him look. When it was finally found, Hibiki whooped in joy; he'd been placed in a class with "three of the cutest girls in our grade, how lucky am _I_?" In a flurry Hibiki was gone, explaining that he needed to meet up with some other friends. Nagisa didn't mind. He had things he needed to get done before heading home, anyway.

Before Nagisa walked away, he glanced up at his class once more. He sighed. **Ryugazaki, Rei** blared at him unforgivingly from the paper, several lines under his own name.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa gets another chance to talk to Ryugazaki. Maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut.

Nagisa made friends easily. He couldn't exactly claim that _everyone_ loved him, or that he was particularly popular, but friendships came easily to him. He could talk to anyone about almost anything, for as long as his tragically diminutive attention span would allow.

That being said, Rei Ryugazaki was a mystery to him. Several weeks had passed since his meeting with Ryugazaki on the train, and although they were in the same class, they had exchanged no dialogue. Certainly Nagisa had offered several 'good mornings' to him, but each time he was met with not so much as a glance or a head-nod.

Ryugazaki wasn't _quite_ as silent and withdrawn as Hibiki had originally made him out to be; he participated in class and was incredibly intelligent, (Nagisa had been imagining him to be the brooding type that hid himself away in the back of the class in a shroud of dark oppression, like in cartoons,) and he _did_ speak to people, but it appeared to be only out of necessity.

At the end of every period, as the rest of the class paired off to chat or tap on their phones, Ryugazaki pulled out a book and Nagisa would see the bubble form a second layer. Only rarely did someone try and speak with him, but when they did, they were met with the same treatment Nagisa had received on the train, and then the interaction was over before it began. It really was amazing, watching it happen. Hibiki was right, though. Nagisa occasionally heard the girls swoon over his cold, stoic behavior, and Nagisa could only wonder when a trait like that had become such a desirable one.

They took the same train home every day after school, and got off at the same stop. From this, Nagisa could only assume that they lived close to one another, not that it mattered. Ryugazaki was every bit as reserved on the train as he was at school, so there was no sense in trying to talk to him. Even when the other people thinned out and they were the only Iwatobi students left, Ryugazaki wouldn't even lift his head until he was at his stop.

It was a rainy May afternoon when Nagisa had his second interaction with Ryugazaki.

Nagisa had not yet chosen a club. Hibiki had convinced him to give the tea ceremony club a try, although Nagisa was incredibly aware that Hibiki was only joining because _one_ of the girls he fancied was the club leader. It was surprisingly fun although Nagisa had nearly broken a tea cup on two occasions, and because of this, he had quickly been demoted from 'host in training' to 'junior flower arranger'. Somehow, he had wasted two hours learning how to properly hang scrolls and arrange seasonal flowers, and all he had to show for it was a belly full of matcha and two papercuts.

It was just starting to sprinkle when he left school. By the time he reached the train station, it was downpouring. Nagisa was in a full sprint toward the station, stopping only when he was covered from the rain under the shelter beside the train tracks. Hands anchored on his knees, Nagisa fought to catch his breath, swiping some wet hair from his eyes.

When he had composed himself, he was surprised to see Ryugazaki standing several feet away. He appeared to have also gotten caught in the rain, his hair and shoulders damp as he busily wiped his glasses on the hem of his track shirt. Nagisa was sufficiently surprised that Ryugazaki had joined _any_ kind of club; he assumed that clubs existed primarily for social interactions, and it was an understatement to say that being social was not Ryugazaki's strong suit.

Against his better judgement, Nagisa casually moved closer. Ryugazaki didn't seem to notice, or at least he didn't seem to care, so Nagisa shimmied closer still until he was just outside the bubble. He cleared his throat, and this was when Ryugazaki showed the first signs of annoyance.

"This rain, huh?" Nagisa said, feeling distinctly too young to be chatting idly about the weather. "You got caught in it without an umbrella too, Ryugazaki-kun? I didn't know it was going to rain, or I would have-"

Ryugazaki sighed. "I believe I asked you politely before not to speak to me. Nothing has changed since I made that request, so I hope you can continue to honor it."

 _It didn't_ seem _polite, not then and certainly not now_ , Nagisa thought. If this was _polite_ for this guy, Nagisa shuddered to think what he was like when he was rude.

"Listen," Nagisa inserted, trying his best to be understanding, "I get it, you don't like me. That's okay, you don't have to like me. But we _are_ in the same class, so I think it would be nice if we could at least get along?"

"There's no reason for us to get along. We don't even sit near each other." Ryugazaki was alarmingly good at not making the slightest bit of eye contact when he spoke with someone. To the discerning eye it might seem like this was a superior behavior, as if he viewed everyone beneath him and not worthy of looking at, but Nagisa tended to try and look at things more optimistically. Maybe he was _so incredibly_ socially awkward that eye contact made him queasy?

"You can't make friends with that kind of attitude," Nagisa pointed out with a friendly grin. His elbow was dangerously close to touching the outer lining of Ryugazaki's personal bubble, but this was corrected when the other boy took a calculated step away from Nagisa.

"Friends are not necessary."

Nagisa couldn't suppress a giggle. "What are you, a robot? Everyone needs friends! I mean, what everyone says about you can't be _completely_ true." Shit. Well, so much for subtlety.

Ryugazaki turned and fully regarded Nagisa for the first time. Nagisa finally got a chance to look at his face, _really_ look at it, and (oh _no_ , crap crap _crap_ ) he was so classically handsome that Nagisa nearly forgot that he had most definitely just offended him. His features were sharp but beautifully drawn together in an arrangement that was probably one-hundred times more lovely when he wasn't scowling. His jaw was strong but didn't distract from the curve of his face that lead to a full mouth that looked criminally soft and inviting. The red frames of his glasses brought attention to his eyes, which were the most lovely shade of deep purple that Nagisa had ever seen.

"And what _does_ everyone say about me?" Ryugazaki said, breaking Nagisa from his inappropriate reverie with a painful abruptness.

"Oh, wha-? Um. Well…" Nagisa fidgeted with his tie, pretending to wring water from it although barely a droplet appeared. "You know people, they just talk about all kinds of weird stuff. I sort of heard that you don't have a lot of friends because of a jinx or something." He spoke the last words so quickly they nearly melded into one word. He laughed nervously. "Stupid stuff, really."

Ryugazaki was stonily silent. He glanced away finally, mouth set in a frown. "Don't speak to me again." he said, dangerously close to a warning, and Nagisa opened his mouth to object as he watched Ryugazaki jog out into the pouring rain and disappear along the tracks.

Later, Nagisa saw Ryugazaki from the window, still jogging and absolutely drenched. He watched him until the train had sped so far past him that he was only a dot on the darkening horizon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa should really, _really_ keep his mouth shut.

"How do you think you did on the test, Hazuki-kun?"

Nagisa groaned and leaned back in his seat, shutting his eyes. "I think I passed? It's hard to tell, I didn't know a lot of the answers so I improvised some of them."

"We just reviewed that material, too. It would be a shame if you failed the first history test of the year," his classmate said, shifting her weight to sit herself on Nagisa's desk. Nagisa kicked his feet.

"I _knowww_." he whined. "History is boring, though. I don't really care about things that happened before we were born."

"Really? I think it's fascinating," she said thoughtfully.

There were a great many things Nagisa found fascinating, but history was not among them. Not many subjects grabbed him, and perhaps it was because of this that he'd always been an exceptionally average student. Nagisa had a rough time tuning into things that he considered boring. He knew now that he was in high school his academic attitude would have to change, but if he was honest with himself, he didn't particularly care if he qualified for a good college, or _any_ college for that matter. _Coasting by_ had always been good enough for him, and thankfully his parents were too busy worrying about his sisters' futures to concern themselves with his less than extraordinary grades.

Nagisa was momentarily distracted by the sound of voices floating from the front of the class. He leaned out of his chair to see three first-year boys from another class gathered around Ryugazaki's desk, none of them looking particularly friendly, the one in the middle leaning his hands on the desk's surface and speaking close to Ryugazaki's face. For some reason, the sight made Nagisa's stomach turn over, from nervousness or anger he wasn't sure. Ryugazaki was effectively ignoring them, putting his things in his backpack as if he hadn't even noticed they were there.

"Hey!" one of the boys shouted, gaining the attention of the entire room, "Listen to me when I'm talking to you, asshole!" He slapped Ryugazaki's pencil case out of his hand, and the tin clattered to the floor and sent pencils and pens flying in all directions.

Ryugazaki stood up and all three of the boys jumped back, tensed and prepared for a fight, but instead he slung his backpack strap over his shoulder and turned to leave. One of the boys stopped him, shoving him hard in the shoulder. "You're not leaving until you apologize!" he said waspishly. Ryugazaki leveled him a glare.

"I have nothing to apologize for."

"The hell you don't!" exclaimed the boy. "You made my sister cry when you rejected her! You think you can just treat people however you want and expect no one to get pissed off about it?"

Before he realized what he was doing, Nagisa was standing up and taking a few steps toward the altercation. "Hey, this isn't solving anything, right?" Nagisa said with a nervous laugh. "Let's not start fighting in the classroom?"

Nagisa could see Ryugazaki's shoulders stiffen as he spoke, but he showed no other sign of acknowledgment. The boy looked past Ryugazaki to flash Nagisa a spiteful look. "This has nothing to do with you, piss off!" he said. Ryugazaki tried to shoulder his way past the boy but he was shoved back again, harder than before. "I'm not done talking to you!"

"Seriously, knock it off!" Nagisa wasn't sure where these words were coming from, or why he was advancing toward Ryugazaki's desk, but it was happening, and it was too late to back down now. He was equally as confused as to why he felt the need to defend Rei Ryugazaki, a person who had not yet spoken a single positive word to him, but his blood was pumping hard and loud in his ears and he couldn't stop now even if he wanted to.

One of the other two boys stepped in front of Nagisa. The boy was much taller than him, (to be fair, most every boy was,) but Nagisa still managed a defiant glare. The shuffling of their shoes on the floor caused Ryugazaki to turn only minimally.

"Are you his fucking friend or something?" the boy asked him, low and menacing, but Nagisa did not allow his gaze to falter.

"So what if I am?" Nagisa challenged, feeling bitter. He _wasn't_ his friend. Not by a long shot. At this point, Nagisa was fairly certain that Ryugazaki would rather stab himself in the hand with a ruler than be considered his friend. But admitting his disassociation would only fuel the argument against him.

One of the boys scoffed. "Seriously? You're _friends_ with this asshole?"

Ryugazaki cleared his throat, and smacked away the hand that was holding tight to his shoulder.

"We're _not_ friends." he said, and Nagisa felt his stomach do another backflip, this time in disappointment and perhaps a smidgen of embarrassment. "Please move yourself out of my way."

"Not until you apologize!" the boy snarled, fisting Rei's jacket and pulling him in close just as the door slid open behind them. Miss Amakata, the teacher from class 2-1 framed the doorway, a hand resting on a slim hip and her brow furrowed.

"What's going on in here?" she asked sharply, as the boys all broke apart as if blown back by spectral hands. Ryugazaki said nothing, roughly shouldering past the boy and exiting through the door before Miss Amakata could stop him.

.

.

.

Nagisa had Ryugazaki's pencil case.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with it now that he had it, but regardless, it sat in his backpack, a small dent on the corner of the lid but otherwise unscathed. He had collected it and its contents from the floor after Miss Amakata had reprimanded them for "...whatever it was you were doing, I _know_ I heard shouting in here!" Now he supposed he had to return it to Ryugazaki, but that idea seemed daunting.

Ryugazaki wasn't waiting for the train after school. Nagisa assumed he was doing track club activities, or maybe he was just avoiding Nagisa altogether. Either way, the pencil case was burning a proverbial hole in his backpack, and now that this awkward interaction had been delayed, Nagisa thought perhaps it might be easier on everyone if he were to just leave the item in Ryugazaki's shoe locker when he wasn't around.

His train reached its stop, and Nagisa filed out with the rest of the passengers. Home wasn't far off, but Nagisa felt particularly sluggish, and purposefully took the long way home, kicking at pebbles as he went. He didn't feel right. He couldn't place the feeling, but it was something like a sharp despondency that was clawing at his stomach, upsetting the balance of his entire day.

He hadn't been expecting Ryugazaki to dismiss him like that. He had only been trying to help, and although he hadn't expected an explosion of gratitude to result, he couldn't understand why even when faced with bullying, Ryugazaki was so opposed to friendliness. This bothered Nagisa more than it ought to have, and he knew this, but he couldn't chase the thoughts away.

When Nagisa looked up, he was a few streets away from his house. He had forgotten how busy this street was, and inwardly cursed himself for having taken this route home. The crosswalk here was notorious for taking ages to flash green. Stopping at the crosswalk just next to a line of small trees, Nagisa pulled out his phone to check the time.

From somewhere above him, Nagisa heard a faint but persistent hissing sound. Looking up from his phone, Nagisa looked around, the sound continuing in short bursts like a gas leak until finally his search led him to the tree he was standing under. Perched in the tree and hunched over a surprisingly small branch he saw a black cat, it's face scrunched into an agitated scowl and it's ears flat, bright white teeth bared as it hissed and yowled. Before Nagisa could properly react, the cat lunged, and Nagisa twisted around in surprise and fell backwards, phone flying from his hand and landing on the cement with a loud and tragic _crack_.

When he'd come back to his senses, Nagisa could see the black tail of the cat disappearing around the corner of a nearby building. Stunned and inhaling air like he'd just run a marathon, Nagisa collected himself and realized he had landed fairly ridiculously in the street. With a groan, Nagisa grabbed his broken phone and pocketed it, not looking forward to the lecture he was sure to receive when he returned home. Letting out a long, calming sigh, Nagisa pushed himself up and immediately landed back down on his rear. His shoe was stuck in a storm drain. _Great_.

Nagisa attempted to wiggle his shoe free, to no avail. He pulled, tried a different angle and a variety of other things, but his foot was so firmly wedged in the drain he almost couldn't figure out how it had gotten so stuck in the first place.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nagisa saw a truck turn the corner. It was coming his way, and fast, but Nagisa wasn't worried. The driver would see his predicament. After all, this wasn't a highway, it was practically a residential street.

The closer the truck got, the more nervous Nagisa became. _Why_ wasn't the driver slowing down? When he looked again, his heart froze in his chest. The driver couldn't see him. The truck was gaining speed, wheels turning back and forth, causing it to careen wildly. The driver had lost control of the vehicle. And Nagisa was directly in its path.

The realization sank in like a freezing cold dagger in his spine. He was going to die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliff-hanger ending. uwu Hopefully there won't be too many of those.
> 
> I decided to change around some things for this AU, so Nagisa's least favorite subject is history, while his favorite is math. There will be some other minor swaps of that nature as the story progresses for several of the characters. :3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The doctor calls it bad luck, but Nagisa isn't sure.

Everything seemed incredibly surreal. The rumbling sound of the truck vibrating on pavement was drowning everything else out, including the shouts from a couple of passersby from across the street who were witnessing the event. Nagisa was too frozen to notice. He barely felt it when arms circled around his chest and yanked him up and out of the street, his ankle twisting as he came free of the drain.

Incredibly vibrant blue eyes were taking up his field of vision, and someone was talking to him, but Nagisa was in a fog. It took several moments before sounds and color and reality came crashing back to a normal pace, and Nagisa realized with abrupt clarity that he was kneeling on a sidewalk, there were worried-looking people surrounding him in a circle, and his ankle was burning with pain, all in that order.

"Are you okay?" The owner of the incredibly blue eyes was staring into Nagisa's face, searching for reassurance, and finally Nagisa willed himself to speak.

"I- Uhh, um. Yes?" Nagisa sputtered. "What happened?"

"Haru!" Another voice rang from outside the ring of onlookers, and a tall, broad-shouldered brunette was shoving his way through. Nagisa remembered him from the opening assembly. "Is everyone alright?!" His gaze moved to Nagisa, face etched in concern. "We saw you fall, but we didn't think… If Haru hadn't been so _quick_...!"

Nagisa was starting to put the pieces together; his brain felt like it had short-circuited and was still in the process of re-booting.

"You saved me?" Nagisa asked, shifting his weight to try and stand. The blue-eyed, raven-haired hero grabbed Nagisa's arm, keeping him firmly in place.

"Don't move. I think your ankle's broken."

Nagisa looked down. His shoe was missing. He turned to see it smashed to nothing in the street behind them, tire tracks running a line through it like something out of a cartoon. He stared for longer than was necessary. _That was almost me_.

"Hey, are you alright? Do you need us to call an ambulance?" the taller second-year was asking, and Nagisa quickly snapped back to reality.

"Uhh, no! No, I don't think my ankle's broken… It hurts, but I think it's just twisted…" He hoped that was true, but he was finding it hard to care either way at the moment.

The brunette groaned, heaving a deep, relieved breath. "I'm so glad nothing horrible happened… To _think_ , if we hadn't been over here to visit Rin…" He shook his head, smiling gently. "Where do you live?" the taller boy asked, kneeling next to Haru. "Should you call someone to come get you?"

Nagisa remembered the broken phone that was still sitting in his pocket. He cringed.

"Ehh… I live real close by, I think I can make it there okay."

"That's stupid," Haru said, his expression unmoving aside for a slight narrowing of the eyes and a twitch of his brow. "Even if your ankle's _not_ broken, you can't go walking on it until you get it looked at."

"He's right," the taller boy agreed. He turned his back to Nagisa, still kneeling, pulling back his massive shoulders. "If you live close by, then this isn't a problem, right?"

Nagisa regarded the gesture with complete confusion until it finally hit him. "Oh. Oh! Are you _sure_? I mean, I don't even know you, that seems like such a bother," Nagisa laughed.

The boy looked back with a gentle smile. "I'm Tachibana Makoto. And this is Nanase Haruka."

Haruka merely blinked in reply. Makoto rolled his shoulders invitingly. "Come on, it's really no trouble. Just point us in the direction of your house."

Although it was slightly awkward, Nagisa grabbed Makoto's shoulders tightly and stabilized himself just as Makoto stood up, hands slung under the bend of Nagisa's knees to keep him upright. Nagisa winced as shooting pains raced from his ankle to his knee.

"Are you okay?" Haruka asked softly, noticing. Makoto was reassuring the slowly dispersing crowd that Nagisa "-is fine, _really_ , just a twisted ankle, we'll take him back home safely," which Nagisa was grateful for because after everything was said and done, he felt mildly foolish. He smiled feebly.

"Yeah... The pain's just kind of catching up with the rest of me."

"You be sure to tell us if it gets worse," Makoto said sternly. "Which way?"

"That way," Nagisa pointed, and smiled. "And I'm Hazuki Nagisa, by the way."

.

.

.

Nagisa's mother was arriving home from work when the odd trio marched up to the house. She had naturally been surprised to see her son being carried on the back of a boy she'd never met before, but as soon as they filled her in on what had happened, she was so grateful to Haruka that she very nearly hugged him, ( _tearfully_ , which had caused Haruka to glow with the most acute expression of embarrassment Nagisa had ever witnessed,) and insisted that he let her do something for him to show her gratitude. Haruka resolutely refused, insistent that he didn't want any thanks or fuss. As they were leaving, Makoto casually mentioned Haruka's undying love of mackerel, and Nagisa was _sure_ he saw a twinkle of understanding between Makoto and his mother before the boys said their goodbyes and departed.

The hospital was Nagisa's least favorite place. He hadn't been to a hospital in some time, not since he'd split his knee open on the coffee table in a freak (and completely unavoidable) couch-gymnastics accident when he was 11. The doctor had thankfully been very accommodating, and after having taken xrays and declaring his ankle sprained, he asked, curiously, how the incident occurred. Nagisa explained everything; the cat, the storm drain, the truck, and his rescue.

" _Well_ ," the doctor said, chuckling in wonder as he jotted down some notes for the nurse, "that sounds like a stroke of really bad luck. Good thing it wasn't more than a sprained ankle."

Nagisa hadn't thought of it as 'bad luck' until then. He had placed it firmly in the _good_ luck category, a fortuitous event that could have ended very badly but _didn't_. He recalled the black cat in the tree. He supposed there was no greater symbol of misfortune than that, and combined with the conveniently rogue murder truck, it certainly appeared like bad luck at its most potent, the more he considered it.

He left with an ankle brace and a pair of crutches that he was instructed to use for no more than a few days. Nagisa was fine with that; hobbling to the car was awkward and vaguely challenging, and Nagisa couldn't wait to be rid of them.

His sister smothered him with a suffocating embrace the moment he walked through the door, (all-around being just as obnoxious as usual, but with a bit more gentle sincerity, which Nagisa always appreciated,) and spent the evening fussing over her brother in the most out-of-character ways imaginable. Both of his other big sisters called the house during dinner, speaking to him in high-pitched baby voices of admiration as one might talk to a 4-year old who has just skinned his knee. ( _You didn't have to call_ everyone _, dad_ , Nagisa thought.) By the time Nagisa finished dinner, he was too overwhelmed and exhausted to even keep his eyes open or entertain the idea of homework.

Laying in bed, Nagisa mulled over his day. Reflecting on everything in the silence of his cozy, safe room was incredibly dreamlike. The doctor's words were prominent in his mind, bringing older conversations to the surface, namely the conversation he'd had with Hibiki after the opening assembly.

Nagisa turned onto his side, struggling to find a comfortable position. The pain meds prescribed by the doctor left his ankle with nothing more than a dull, throbbing ache.

Could it all have been left up to luck? Good luck, bad luck, curses… Did those things exist? It was easy to say yes, and Nagisa had always _wanted_ to believe in serendipitous events and other-worldly forces, but it was all for fun. It wasn't a subject he spent any length of time considering as factual. But now, he was having a hard time pushing it out of his mind.

Nagisa sighed and shut his eyes. It didn't matter, anyway. If there was any kind of curse surrounding Rei Ryugazaki, it wouldn't be affecting Nagisa. Rei had said it himself, they _weren't_ friends.

Nagisa was just the boy who had his pencil case. With that thought, Nagisa slipped into sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa talks swim club with his new friends. He still has that damn pencil case.

Nagisa threw open the door, stepping out onto the roof, waving a hand in the air.

"Haru-chan! Mako-chan!"

Haruka and Makoto were sitting with a red-haired girl who was talking animatedly until Nagisa's voice diverted their attention. Makoto waved back, and Nagisa limped his way over to the small group, a box in his hands.

"Knock off the _-chan_ ," Haruka said grumpily.

Makoto glanced at Nagisa's ankle worriedly. "Auhh, Nagisa, you didn't walk up all those steps without support, did you? Where are your crutches?"

Nagisa puffed up his cheeks and blew air through his lips. "Gone, thankfully! The doctor says I can get around just fine as long as I take it easy. I'm _freeee_!" Nagisa threw his arms in the air, nearly losing his grip on the box. Haruka's eyes were trained on the box like a cat on a laser-pointer. Nagisa noticed his stare and grinned, waving the box in front of him tauntingly. "I wonder what's in here?" Nagisa said in sing-song, and Makoto chuckled.

"More mackerel from your mother?"

"Yep," Nagisa said, lowering the box to Haruka, who clasped the box carefully in his hands as if it were a newborn. "Four days straight. I keep telling her 'that's enough, I think Haru-chan gets it', but I don't think she'll be satisfied until Haru-chan explodes."

"That's okay," Haruka said with uncharacteristic gentleness, and Nagisa was momentarily unsure if Haruka was speaking to him or reassuring the box.

"Ah, Nagisa, this is Matsuoka Gou," Makoto swept a hand toward the pretty crimson-haired girl, and she nodded politely. Her hair was tied back in a charming ponytail, her face heart-shaped and delicate.

"You can call me Kou, though," Gou said with a friendly smile. Nagisa tilted his head.

"How come?"

"Well…" Gou acted almost like no one had ever asked something so blunt before. "It's just more polite, right? Since I'm a girl and all."

"But I like Gou better." Nagisa reasoned.

Gou frowned hotly. "It isn't about what _you_ like, is it?" she asked.

"I'm Hazuki Nagisa!" Nagisa said, sitting down next to Makoto. "How did you meet Haru-chan and Mako-chan, Gou-chan? Did Haru-chan save _you_ , too?"

"It's _Kou_!" Gou said exasperatingly.

"Kou is the sister of an old friend of ours. We were actually going to visit him that day we met you. He goes to Samezuka Academy." Makoto said kindly, putting extra emphasis on Gou's preferred name so as not to incur her wrath.

Nagisa whistled. "Isn't Samezuka a swimming powerhouse? Is your friend a competitive swimmer?"

"He's training for the olympics," Gou answered, a hint of pride lingering in her voice.

"We were all in the same swim club together, in elementary school," Makoto explained. "Rin's the only one of us who swims competitively, though. Haru and I just swim for the fun of it." Although he had been showing no previous signs of listening to the conversation, Haruka nodded. Makoto glanced at Haruka and chuckled fondly. "Haru has a real love for the water." Haruka nodded again, a little more resolutely this time.

"Ahh, a swim club sounds so cool!" Nagisa cried wistfully.

"Do you swim?" Haruka asked, leveling Nagisa a placid look.

Nagisa shrugged up his shoulders. "I did when I was younger, for fun, just like you guys. I'm probably _way_ out of shape, though. But still, I think being in a swim club would be a lot of fun!" Nagisa rolled his eyes upward in thought. "Does Iwatobi _have_ a swim club?"

"Not currently, though Haru and I have talked about maybe putting one together. The school has a pool, but it looks like it hasn't been used in a long time." Makoto said.

The small group pulled out their lunches and chatted idly about the prospect of a swim club, which seemed to spark much more participation from Haruka; the way his eyes lit up when water was discussed was truly remarkable. Gou volunteered as the club's manager were the idea ever to take off, and Nagisa was fishing in his bag for his own lunch when his hand hit something cool and metallic that he couldn't identify. All at once he remembered.

"Oh, _shit_!" Nagisa cried. Makoto jumped in surprise.

"What is it? Is it your ankle?" he asked.

"What? No…" Nagisa sighed deeply. "I forgot I was supposed to return something to someone, but it happened the day the truck thing went down, and I _completely_ spaced it off! It's gonna be even more awkward now…" he whined.

Gou tilted her head. "Why would returning something to someone be awkward?" she asked with a laugh.

"Because that someone is _Ryugazaki Rei_ ," Nagisa said miserably, assuming everyone present knew about him already. He was right, from the way everyone seemed to stiffen at the name.

"Rei?" Makoto asked, sounding surprised but not as scandalized as Nagisa would have expected. Nagisa frowned at the familiarity in his voice.

"You know him? Like, personally?"

Makoto exchanged a look with Haruka. Gou looked like she was suddenly very interested in the pattern on the outside of her bento box.

"We knew him in elementary school," Makoto admitted. "He was also in our swim club."

"Wh _aaaa_ t?" Nagisa exclaimed, slapping his hands against the ground. "Seriously? Were you friends with him?"

"We were all friends for a while, before…" Makoto trailed off, looking to Haruka for what appeared to be permission. They exchanged a wordless conversation (just how close _were_ these two?) before Haruka looked away, and Makoto resumed. "We were all set to swim a relay together. Rei pulled out at the last minute, and we had to find a replacement. After that, he made it rather clear that he wanted nothing to do with us. We really haven't talked to him since."

Gou was intently staring off at another group of students on the other end of the roof, her hands busy wringing her ponytail to death. She looked on edge, like there was something she wanted to say but couldn't.

Nagisa couldn't wrap his mind around it. Rei had been surrounded by so many great friends, but even back then, he had distanced himself from them. It didn't seem to make any sense.

"Did he say why?" Nagisa asked curiously. Makoto smiled sadly.

"No, he never told us why. He never really said _anything_ to us, actually. He talked to Rin about it a few days before the tournament, and then quit the swim club."

Haruka was looking away and at the sky, seemingly aloof to the subject at hand. Gou was staring at the students across the roof as if she meant to set them on fire with her mind.

There was something not quite right about everything. Nagisa was curious what Rei had said to Rin all those years ago, but didn't really want to press the subject any further.

.

.

.

 _The sooner I get this over with, the better_. This was Nagisa's mantra as he closed in on Rei's shoe locker between classes. He had thought of returning it to him in class, but surrounded by so many people might have caused a stir. Not to mention, he ran the risk of Rei being publicly snarky with him again, and he didn't much fancy that idea. No, it was a much better choice to leave it anonymously in his locker and then get the hell back to class.

He hadn't really considered the possibility of Rei being at his locker when Nagisa arrived, but of course, that's exactly what Nagisa was presented with as he rounded the corner. He nearly thought to turn on his heel and escape the situation, but _no_ , dammit, he was already here, _screw it just give it back to him, to hell with pleasantries_.

"Hey!" Nagisa chimed, inwardly biting his knuckle for _already_ failing in his effort to stay aloof.

Rei glanced at him as he walked up, eyes lingering on the ankle brace. He said nothing, which obviously meant that Nagisa had to fill the silence.

"So, uhh, how's it going?" Nagisa said, feeling rather stupid. _Why_ was he trying to shoot the shit with Mr. Antisocial? He reached for his bag, determined to follow through with his five-day-long mission. "See, I have this-"

"What happened to your ankle?" Ryugazaki asked stiffly, and Nagisa's hand halted in its search. He blinked up at Rei with confused burgundy eyes.

"Huh?" Nagisa replied dumbly, completely taken aback by any show of concern, no matter how flippant.

"Your ankle. What happened." Rei repeated, a little more slowly, as if he were dealing with a slow child. At this point, that's exactly what Nagisa felt like.

"Oh… Oh, my ankle! Yeah, it's kind of hard to explain. I got it stuck in a storm drain? Sounds pretty lame, right? But someone came along and pulled me out right before a truck _creamed_ me, so it-"

"Why are you here? Are you here to see me?" Rei asked suddenly, _angrily_ , taking a step toward Nagisa. The blonde felt the need to take a step back, but refrained.

"Well yeah, I-"

"What don't you _understand_?" Ryugazaki's purple eyes were flashing with something that Nagisa hadn't seen before, a baseless desperation melded with bitterness. It rendered Nagisa silent. "I've asked you so many times, but you still don't seem to get the hint. _Leave me alone, Hazuki-san_. I don't want to be your friend. Please take the time to process this, accept it, and then respect my wishes."

Nagisa was transfixed by the contradictory messages he was receiving. Rei's eyes were burning a hole through Nagisa's with purpose, holding him there even while he was telling him to go away. He couldn't understand it. He heard the words, but what he was seeing was something completely different. _No one wants to be like this_.

Rei stepped back, a finger coming up to adjust his red-frames. Nagisa was positive he saw those violet eyes drop back to his ankle cast before he turned his back to him. "I won't speak to you again." Ryugazaki said before he slammed his locker shut and walked away.

Standing alone next to the row of shoe lockers, Nagisa listened numbly to the sound of other lockers being opened and closed, students chatting and giggling, and the rustle of the spring breeze blowing across the pavement just outside. Ryugazaki was right. Nagisa was unable to take the hint. He'd had nothing but unfriendly interactions with Rei up until this point, but still he felt tied to him somehow. He could blame it on coincidence, or the pencil case; really, it came down to Nagisa's inability to ignore Ryugazaki's existence. When he looked at Rei, he saw someone lonely. Someone wounded. He couldn't explain it, but a part of him knew that he was forcing himself into Ryugazaki's life in some way.

All at once, he felt ashamed of himself.

He left the lockers, with the pencil case still in his bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise Rei will stop being a tsundere grumpy-pants real soon. orz


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa finally returns the pencil case, but then things become a lot more complicated.

This was it. The final attempt.

He was going to give Rei his pencil case back.

Three days had passed since their encounter in the locker room, and Nagisa had had time to think. Mostly he thought about how annoying it was that he _still_ had Ryugazaki's damnable pencil case after everything that had happened, but he also thought about how Rei always seemed to grab the last word. Yes, he hadn't been able to take the hint. Yes, he'd continued to approach Rei even though the other requested otherwise. But was that really a cause for such rudeness? After all, hadn't Nagisa been nothing but nice to him? Hadn't he stood up for him, when no one else would? He hadn't exactly done it for praise, but certainly he didn't deserve ungraciousness, either.

Every day, he and Rei got off at the same stop. While normally Rei branched off in the direction of his own home and Nagisa took a completely different route, today Nagisa took his time tying his shoes as Rei exited the train, and then carefully (and vaguely stalkerishly) followed after him.

For being an untrusting person of super-human anti-social prowess, Rei didn't seem to realize he was being followed. Nagisa had been prepared to dramatically duck behind light-posts and buildings or perhaps don disguises, but all of these ideas proved to be unnecessary and perhaps the result of too many cartoons. Rei hadn't even glanced anywhere but at the book he was holding, the handsome bastard, and so Nagisa took it upon himself to decide when to approach.

He was past the point of caring about being awkward or pushy. If Rei was going to be nothing but rude to him, then what did it matter what he said to him in return?

Rei was just turning a corner near a gift shop when Nagisa accosted him; he seemed so surprised by the blonde's sudden appearance that he merely stopped walking, lowered his book and stared in mild confusion. Nagisa stepped in front of him and pressed the pencil case to his chest without a word; Rei looked down, grabbed the case gingerly in his hand, but still looked too surprised to form coherent words.

"This…"

"Listen!" Nagisa said with emphasis, and to his surprise (and perhaps his satisfaction) Rei's mouth shut and he obeyed. "I get that you hate me, okay? That's fine. I won't bother you again. But I at least wanted to give you back your pencil case, because I've had it for a week, and at this point I feel like I practically stole it. I meant to give it back to you, but a lot of stuff happened, and…" he trailed off, his face screwing up in frustration. "You know what! It doesn't matter. I _tried_ to give it back to you before and you blew me off, so… Take it, and stop being such a _jerk_!"

"Hazuki-" Rei attempted to reply, but Nagisa's ears were buzzing with both embarrassment and righteous fury, and he had stormed off without giving him the chance. He didn't feel quite as relieved as he thought he would, but it didn't matter… He'd done what he'd come to do, and at least this time _he_ wasn't the one left in a stunned silence.

"Hazuki-san!" he heard Rei call, and he was so surprised to be called after that he nearly whirled on the spot. He was still hanging onto whatever he had left that resembled pride, however, so he continued walking as if he hadn't heard.

" _Hazuki-san_!" Rei sounded more urgent now, and Nagisa was almost tempted to look again, stopping in place instead. Maybe he wanted to actually apologize?

" _Watch out-!_ " Nagisa turned in alarm just as Rei was tackling him to the ground, and a horrible sound tore through the quiet afternoon and left Nagisa's ears ringing. Everything had been a blur for a brief moment as he'd nearly tumbled head over feet and found himself smashed against the sidewalk with Ryugazaki practically straddling him. He hardly had time to focus on that, however, as a loud, electric hum caught his attention, as well as a fresh coat of broken glass all around them.

"Are you alright?" Rei was asking him, eyes wide, voice panic-filled.

"Uh... Huh? What _happened_?" Nagisa sputtered, glancing around Rei's head to see a large neon (although not so neon anymore) restaurant sign shattered on the pavement just behind them, still sparking, the glass having spread so far that cars were stopping in the street for fear of blowing their tires.

"You're cut," Rei observed, and Nagisa realized a sharp stinging sensation; he touched his cheek gently, pulling away to see drops of glistening blood. Nagisa looked up to follow the sign's origin of trajectory, realizing that it had inexplicably fallen off the building to land almost exactly where Nagisa had been standing. If it hadn't been for Rei…

"Are _you_ okay?" Nagisa asked suddenly, the whole situation finally becoming clear. _That was my_ second _close-call of the week. What the hell is happening?_

Rei was standing up, grabbing Nagisa by his wrist and hoisting him up. "We should go," Rei said quickly, casting a worried look around them as the people started gathering. There were already onlookers who had emerged from the neighboring shops and from the cafe itself, talking and gasping and snapping pictures on their phones.

"G-go?" Nagisa repeated, staring at Rei dumbly. "Shouldn't we stay, and answer questions, or…?"

"We didn't witness a crime," Rei pointed out with a frown, his hand still circled around Nagisa's wrist. "Staying here is pointless. Look, just… Come to my house. Let's go."

Nagisa was so stunned over the entire ordeal that he did little to object. Even after Rei released his wrist, he still followed behind him and away from the scene, mutely trying to process everything that had occurred.

.

.

.

Nagisa distinctly felt like he was dreaming. A little while ago he had been determined to break his last tie with Ryugazaki and never speak to him again, and now he was sitting at the coffee table in his bedroom, being handed a mug of hot tea. He couldn't think of anything to say; normally conversation came so _easily_ to him, but everything about this was so unorthodox that even _he_ was having a difficult time wrapping his mind around it. He stared down at his mug, watching the steam rise, and finally he was able to produce words.

"Uhh, thanks," he said, and Rei stared down at him with a hard-to-read expression. He had something else in his hands, a small box; he set it on the table and opened it, pulling from it a roll of bandages, flesh-colored bandaids and a tube of ointment. Nagisa had forgotten that his face was bleeding.

"Is it bad?" Nagisa asked, and Rei shook his head.

"Just a scratch," he said softly, pulling a cotton ball from the box and without warning he dabbed at the wound on Nagisa's face, nearly making Nagisa spill his tea all over his lap. "Hold still!" Rei chided, and Nagisa froze, his mind working double-time to try and catch up with everything that was happening.

Nagisa studied Rei's face with large eyes as the other carefully cleaned the wound, applied ointment to a bandaid and then sealed the cut with the patch. Rei's face was dusted pink, from awkwardness or irritation Nagisa was unsure, but either way, it was far too becoming to be even remotely acceptable.

"There," Rei said finally, closing the box and standing up. He walked to his nightstand and slipped the box into a drawer. "Does it hurt?" His question was soft and almost sad, but he did not turn to ask Nagisa directly. Nagisa was abruptly broken from his trance.

"Oh, uhh, no, to be honest I can barely feel it."

"How about your ankle? Is it… Is it alright? You didn't twist it again, did you?"

If Nagisa could have looked like anything other than a surprised blowfish right now, he would have.

"I actually kind of forgot about my ankle," Nagisa admitted with a carefree laugh. "It feels fine. Are _you_ okay, though? I mean, I should thank you, you literally saved my butt back there. You didn't get cut or anything, did you?"

Rei's head noticeably lowered. "I never do." he said stiffly.

"Oh," Nagisa said, unsure, "that's good. So, Rei-chan, why did you br-"

"Rei-chan?" Rei asked haughtily, finally turning with a fresh new color of pink on his face. "We barely know each other-"

"You just saved my life," Nagisa pointed out with a giggle. "If that's not the ultimate in male-bonding, I'm not really sure what is."

Rei sighed heavily, smoothing his hand over the top of his nightstand. "I didn't _save_ you."

"What would _you_ call it, then?" Nagisa asked, tilting his head. "Were you trying to push me into it?"

"What…? No, I-"

"Then you pretty much saved me, I think," Nagisa said playfully. "And then you brought me back to your apartment, and made me tea, so I'd say that's more than enough reason for me to-"

" _I brought you back here_ so that I could talk to you about what happened." Rei said sharply, crossing his arms. "Aren't you the least bit curious about what's occurring?"

 _Of course I am._ "What do you mean?"

Rei inhaled deeply, letting the breath out in what seemed like an attempt to calm. He joined Nagisa at the table, sitting across from him, his gaze dropped to the ground.

"I'm just going to come out and say it, because I don't believe there's any other way of getting through to you, and there's simply no easy way to approach this." he started, and Nagisa set his tea gently on the table, feeling nervous despite there being no real reason to feel that way. "Do you believe in luck?"

Nagisa wasn't sure how to answer. Recently he had been warming up to the idea, and he'd spent quite a bit of time thinking about it. Despite this, he knew where Rei was heading, and he wasn't sure if he could go along with it.

"Rei-chan, if this is about what people say about you-"

"People say it because it's true," Rei cut in, deliberately ignoring the suffix attached to his name. "Can you seriously say that almost being hit by a truck and nearly being smashed into the pavement by a _fixed neon sign_ are just coincidences?"

 _No because that's really fucking weird_ , he wanted to say, but his more-than-questionable common sense wouldn't allow it. "Yeah, I mean, that kind of stuff happens to people all the time! I wouldn't have been the first person to get hit by a truck, or smashed by a sign. It _looks_ like bad luck, but it was just a wrong-place, wrong-time kind of thing."

Rei frowned. "Twice in the same week?"

"Well-"

"Think hard. When the incident with the truck occurred, what happened before that? How did you end up in such an unfortunate position?"

"Well, there was a sound that startled me." He paused, and Rei stared at him firmly, urging him to continue.

"And…?"

"And what?" Nagisa said guiltily.

"What was the sound?"

Nagisa squirmed in place. He felt distinctly like he was taking an oral test. "A… A black cat. But…!" he exclaimed earnestly when Rei's eyebrows shot up behind his bangs in confirmation, "I see black cats all over the place! They're all _over_ my neighborhood, it's like an epidemic, so-"

"Hazuki-san, I'm not crazy, and I'm not mistaken. This curse has been a part of the Ryugazaki line for longer than our history dates back. It sometimes skips generations, but it has always been prevalent. I'm aware that bad luck and curses seem illogical, but there's no other dependable way to explain it. There have been no reliable studies on the phenomenon, or I would share them with you."

Nagisa stared at Rei for a long moment, soaking it all in. He had never expected to hear something like this from another human being and actually expect to take them seriously, but here he was.

"You're serious…?" Nagisa breathed.

"Very."

"No way!"

Rei sighed irritably. " _Way_."

Nagisa was silent for a time, finally deciding to distract himself with his tea, which had cooled sufficiently for drinking. Even if it had been scalding hot, Nagisa doubted he would have noticed.

"So… How does it work? If you're cursed with this bad luck or whatever, then how come _I'm_ getting targeted? Am I the only one? Is it just random?"

Rei glanced away, shifting uncomfortably. "The curse entails that those who become close or friendly with the cursed- that would be me- will be burdened with misfortune. The frequency and severity of the misfortune differs."

"Wait, back up, hold on," Nagisa leaned over the table and swung an accusatory finger in Rei's direction. "You've said it yourself, _many_ times, that we aren't friends. You've been pretty clear on that point. It can't just be because I've said 'hey' to you a few times, right? I mean, if that were the case, wouldn't half the _school_ be having bad luck? Or the teachers? Or practically _anyone_ who talks to you kindly?"

The discomfort radiating off of Rei was so dense Nagisa felt like he could touch it. "There are… Special circumstances."

"Like…?"

He adjusted his glasses. "It isn't solely based on the victim's actions towards the cursed. It… It goes the other way, as well."

Nagisa blinked at Rei in obvious confusion. What did that even mean?

"I don't get it." the blonde responded monotonously. Rei flushed a deep shade of rose.

"You actually need me to elaborate?" he asked, astonished, and Nagisa nodded. He sighed defeatedly. "If the cursed is mutually friendly, the effects may intensify." he said carefully, haltingly, and Nagisa frowned.

"But you haven't been!" he said, feeling like Rei wasn't explaining his point very well. "You've felt the opposite of that, haven't you?"

Rei seemed to flush an even darker shade, his eyes focused determinedly on his book shelf across the room. Nagisa's frown faded and his eyes became round.

"Haven't you?"

Staring down the bookshelf as if he expected it to move any second, Rei's lips pressed together into a tight line. "I told you to leave me alone, Hazuki-san. Why did you keep bothering me? Why did you become so persistent?" he asked softly.

Nagisa's mouth went dry. He was no expert in these sorts of matters, and his personal romantic experience was outstandingly non-existent, but… Was Rei implying what he _thought_ he was implying?

"I'm not blaming you…" Rei continued apologetically, "I have only myself to blame, after all. But… Do you understand, now? Is the situation clear to you?"

No, it wasn't. Clear was not even close to the word Nagisa would have used to describe what was happening. There was not enough time to process the things he was feeling as a result of the things he was hearing, and Nagisa felt close to overflowing.

"I- I don't-"

"I _like_ you, Hazuki-san," Rei cut in sharply, turning his head decisively to lock his violet eyes on Nagisa's frozen expression. Nagisa felt a flutter of warmth in the pit of his stomach. "This is my own fault. But you are inviting misfortune by continuing to associate yourself with me. So I'll make this simple."

Rei stood up and walked past Nagisa to the bedroom doorway, gesturing to the hallway that lead to the front door. "Now that you know everything, you can leave here with the understanding that we are never to speak ever again."  
 _  
But…_

"It might even help if you let yourself act cruelly toward me. I won't deter such actions, if that is what it takes. But I will not talk to you, nor engage you in any way. You can forget this conversation ever happened, and live your life normally."  
 _  
Stop it. Just-_

"It's better this way. I'm sorry for troubling you thus far, Hazuki-san. Now, please leave."

Before he realized what he was doing, Nagisa had slammed his hands down on the table, the mug trembling and spilling an inconsequential amount of tea over the glass surface. He stood up slowly, his eyes burning with the threat of water, though Nagisa couldn't understand why.

"Why is _that_ how it has to be?" Nagisa demanded, his tone angrier than he'd meant for it to be. Rei's lips parted in surprise, but he said nothing.

"You barely even gave me a chance to say anything! No one wants to live like that Rei-chan, with all of these rules and boundaries… This isn't how normal people live!"

"I'm _not_ normal!" Rei shouted, bitterness seeping into the words. "That's exactly the point!"

"You didn't even bother asking how I felt about any of it!" Nagisa continued, Rei's figure obscured by angry tears that were starting to cloud his vision. He wiped his eyes embarrassedly on the back of his arm. "You just assumed that I'm okay with all of this! That I'm _okay_ with just walking away and pretending this never happened!"

"Of course I assumed that!" Rei countered. "Who would _welcome_ this sort of thing?"

Nagisa was taking steps toward Rei, to what purpose he wasn't sure, maybe to shove him? Punch him? Embrace him? The amount of emotions swirling inside of his smaller frame were overwhelming his senses, making it difficult to discern what exactly he wanted to do.

"Well, you didn't even give me a chance! You're finally talking to me like this, and you're just pushing me away all over again!" _Shit shit shit shut_ up, _shut up idiot_! _This is stumbling into confession territory, isn't it?_ "You didn't even ask if I felt the same way!"

Rei was bristling with what looked like anger, if only his eyes didn't look so yearning. "Fine!" he shouted, grabbing a fistful of Nagisa's uniform and pulling him close. "How do you feel?"

The next few seconds were lost to them both. Nagisa sprang forward and wrapped his arms around Rei's neck, mouths meeting in a hazy mess of inexperienced but passionate kissing; the force of the embrace knocked Rei against the wall beside the doorway, a grunt of discomfort muffled by Nagisa's frenzied lips. Rei's hands were fisted in the cloth covering Nagisa's sides, pulling him closer to press their bodies together, chests rubbing, pelvises dangerous close to following suit. Nagisa's mouth was opening to invite Rei's to mirror his actions, his slick tongue pushing into the other's mouth and gliding past Rei's bottom row of teeth to sample his mouth. He moaned low, hands trailing through Rei's hair, pressing himself up against the taller aggressively, his knee finding a comfortable spot between Rei's thighs. Rei sucked in air through his nose sharply, the sudden spike of arousal causing their kissing to become much more frantic.

Nagisa's legs felt distinctly like they were made of rubber, and the pit of his stomach was blossoming with a heat he'd never known. His senses were wiped clean, replaced with kisses and touches and the friction of Rei's hardened body firmly pressed against his own. He wasn't sure of anything but _this_ , whatever this was, and he felt a shiver of pleasure shoot up his spine as Rei's tongue pushed into his mouth, effectively shutting down the thought processes of his brain.

He moaned, which seemed to bring Rei back to his senses. Rei grabbed his shoulders and pulled them apart, his face flushed down to the neck and his glasses askew as he struggled to regain his breath.

"Haz- Nagisa-kun," Rei gasped, as Nagisa realized what had just happened with abrupt clarity. "We… That is, we can't…"

Overcome with a myriad of feelings that he couldn't explain nor properly sort and catalog, Nagisa sputtered an apology and ran from the apartment as if it were on fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, development! (Kind of?)
> 
> I'm going to try and keep a steady rhythm of writing one chapter a week, if I can. orz I seriously have no idea how long this thing is going to be, to be perfectly honest with you I haven't the foggiest idea where this plot is really going, although I have tons of ideas for stupid gay fluffy domestic crap on the horizon uwu 
> 
> We'll be seeing shark-boy next chapter, whoo


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa gets to meet Rin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god I am so sorry. How many months has it been??? The worst part is that this chapter has been nearly done for months and I just never got around to finishing it... I was really trying to focus on finishing Palace, but now that Palace is done, I'm trying to focus on this story and maybe some one-shots, also.  
> Is anyone even still around?? Oh well, I'm still probably going to work on this fic. owo

He had stubbed his toe twice today.

No, _three_ times.

Nagisa hissed a curse as he hopped up and down on one foot, tears stinging at the corners of his vision. It was better than being mowed over by a truck or flattened by a sign, but it still _hurt_.

"Again?" Makoto asked with an apologetic smile. "Do you need some coffee to wake you up?"

It was a beautiful Sunday morning at the downtown shopping district near the train station. Haruka and Makoto had arrived a half an hour ago. They were waiting on one more now, Matsuoka Rin, who was arriving late because, in Makoto's words, "He always runs for an hour or two before doing anything else. It's unbelievable how early he wakes up every day." Regardless, Nagisa was eager to meet him.

Aside from an excuse to get out and do some shopping during their free time, today was a special expedition to purchase a new phone for Nagisa. His mother, ever-doting and treating the truck incident as if every day since was his birthday, had trusted him with her bank card and allowed him to make his own decision on which model he would like. The task of buying a new phone seemed boring, so Nagisa had invited Haruka and Makoto along to make a day of it. He had extended the invite to Gou and Rin, and although Gou declined due to conflicting plans, Rin mentioned that he would drop by.

Although Nagisa authentically wanted to spend some fun time with his new friends, he was also trying to take his mind off of other things. Mostly things of the curse variety, drizzled with some unexpected gay kissing in the doorway of Rei's bedroom. It wasn't really the kissing or the curse that Nagisa felt conflicted about, it was the both of them together, working in tandem to cause Nagisa an incredible amount of discomfort and confusion.

He felt like an idiot for running out of Rei's apartment. At the time, he barely remembered doing it. After reality had returned, he had simply felt like his brain switched off. Like he was defective. Everything had been explained but nothing made sense. It was more than he could handle.

The same was apparently said for Rei. The next day at school, Rei was absent. And the day after that. And after that. The teacher informed the class that Rei was absent for personal family reasons and would return soon, when everything had been resolved. Nagisa felt a twisting sickness in his stomach whenever he looked at Rei's empty seat.

Nagisa hardly realized that he had agreed to coffee before Makoto was pushing a warm drink into his hands.

"There. That ought to help."

"Oh," Nagisa said, looking at the beverage with wide eyes. "Thanks!"

"There he is," Haruka observed coolly, and both Nagisa and Makoto's heads swerved up to see a crimson-haired, bored-looking young man approaching them, dressed in a ripped up t-shirt and a dark green hoodie. He waved only minimally, and Nagisa never recalled seeing anyone quite so _cool_ before.

"Where the hell were you guys?" Rin demanded, teeth eerily similar to a Great Whites. Nagisa wondered vaguely if it was some side-effect of serious competitive swimming or whether Rin might be an extreme _yaeba_ enthusiast. "I went to the store Haru texted. Why did you leave?"

"Sorry, we made a coffee run," Makoto apologized with a chuckle. "We were coming right back."

"Honestly..." Rin sighed, frowning. His eyes flicked to Nagisa; he looked very much like Gou in the face and eyes, especially when he was irritated. "You must be Nagisa, then? Is it cool if I call you that?"

"Yeah!" Nagisa nodded. "It's nice to meet you, Rin-chan! I've heard that you're a really great swimmer!"

"Rin- _chan_?" Rin replied with a groan. At the mention of swimming, his eyes lit up in a similar way to Haruka's, and his lips pulled into a grin, teeth neatly settled together. "Well, you heard right, anyway. Have you seen Haru swim? That guy's a bit of an idiot savant when it comes to the sport."

"I don't swim to compete," Haruka put in sharply. Rin pretended as if he hadn't heard.

"Makoto said you guys came up with the idea of a swim club." he pointed out teasingly, and Haru glanced away moodily. "If you form a legit club, what will you do? Just swim laps all day? You'll _have_ to compete, and then we'll be swimming in the same competitions," he said, walking over to Haru and leaning his arm on Haruka's shoulder. Haruka tried and failed to buck him off.

Makoto laughed. "It's true, it would be a little strange if we formed a swim club to only swim recreationally."

"Competing sounds really fun, Haru-chan!" Nagisa chimed, nearly spilling his coffee with his excited flailing. "If we train hard I bet we could even beat the _Samezuka Shark_!"

"The what?" Rin asked quizzically.

Nagisa blinked at Rin, sipping his coffee absently. "Isn't that what they call you? It just fits so well!"

" _Oy_! Don't go making up weird nicknames for me when we've only just met!" Rin exclaimed furiously, while Makoto stifled a laugh and Haruka glanced away just as a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

.

.

.

Two hours flew by before the boys realized that they hadn't yet visited the phone store. Since this was really the purpose for their coming, they made their way hastily. Every boy had a different phone they preferred and recommended to him, and in the end, Nagisa picked a phone that was very similar to his previous phone, but pink in color.

After a light lunch at a cafe, Haruka and Makoto both bid the city boys goodbye with the promise of doing something again soon. Nagisa and Rin walked them to the train station that would take them back to Iwatobi, and as the train left and the boys lowered their waving arms, Rin cleared his throat.

"I should probably be heading back too. I had a few hours of free time, but I still wanted to get some training in today."

"You're really serious about all that, huh?" Nagisa asked admiringly. "The Olympics and stuff?"

"Of course," Rin said. "You're either serious about it or you're not. I wouldn't say it if I wasn't gonna make it happen."

"That's really cool!" Nagisa beamed.

"Sure, whatever," Rin laughed. He raked a hand through his messy hair, and glanced sidelong at Nagisa. "You know, Makoto told me what happened, with the truck. That's some pretty crazy shit. I'm glad they were walking by when it happened."

Nagisa smiled and inhaled deeply. "Yep! Haru-chan is my savior. My mom is _still_ sending him mackerel."

Rin snickered. "I'm sure he's not complaining." He looked down, focusing on the ground, his mouth frozen in a half-chuckle that seemed almost like it wanted to lead somewhere else. Whatever he'd been planning on saying, he abandoned it. "Anyway. It was nice to meet you, we should do stuff again. Keep on harping Haru about the swim club, he bitches about competing but I think it's good for him."

"Sure. See you, Rin-chan."

Rin lifted a hand in a casual goodbye, and turned, starting off toward the street, hands in his pockets. Nagisa watched after him, his brain buzzing. There was another reason he had invited Rin to come along, and he hadn't broached it at all.

Part of him wanted to just let it go, and stop bringing it up. At this rate, he felt like a man obsessed. It wasn't normal to think about someone so much, or worry so much about them for absolutely no reason. As Nagisa watched Rin's retreating back, he strongly felt that it would be a good idea to just let him continue along his way. But Nagisa didn't operate on logic and reason very easily, and before he could stop himself he was running after Rin, flailing his shopping bags in the air.

"Rin-chaaaaan! Wait!" he yelled, and Rin stopped and turned, surprised.

Nagisa caught up to him, panting.

"If you're out of breath from running that distance, you're gonna have a hell of a time in the pool." Rin pointed out.

"I - I had a question for you," Nagisa breathed, pulling himself together. Rin quirked a brow but didn't reply.

"You used to be friends with Ryugazaki Rei, right? When you were all in grade school?" asked the blonde, and Rin's expression immediately melted into something like concern mixed with agitation.

"Did Makoto tell you about that?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," Nagisa admitted, hoping he wasn't breaching some kind of trust agreement, "He mentioned that you were all on the same relay team?"

"For a little while, yeah," Rin said. It seemed like he was trying to end the conversation.

"Was he… Uhh… I don't know, did weird things happen around him? Like, do you remember anything odd about-"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Rin asked hotly. "Does it even matter? This was _years_ ago. Why don't you ask Haru or Makoto about it?"

Nagisa felt like perhaps it might be best to stop, as Rin was obviously irate about this line of questioning, but he needed to know. Any information was good information. He felt like facing Rei again without being properly prepared was ill-advised.

"Makoto said that Rei talked to _you_ before he quit the relay team," Nagisa said adamantly. "What did he say? Please, I just… I really need to know."

Rin's expression of anger faded and was replaced with a pitiable air. He sighed, long and deep, rubbing a hand through his hair and shutting his eyes.

"Makoto needs to keep his mouth shut," Rin mused. He glanced back at Nagisa, brows knitted together. "Can I just say something? Whatever I tell you is gonna be meaningless information. I mean, really, it is. I doubt it will even make _sense-_ "

"I already know about him," Nagisa cut in boldly, and Rin's mouth opened but no words came right away.

"Know _what_?" he challenged, lowering his voice, which only worked to make him sound more menacing.

Nagisa looked down, fidgeting with his bags. "His, I dunno, curse? Bad luck jinx? It was why the truck thing happened, and why I almost got pancaked by a restaurant sign the other day."

" _Christ_ ," Rin sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "How did you…?"

"Is that what he told you? He told you about his curse, and that's why he quit the relay? Did he think it would affect the competition?"

Rin stared Nagisa down with a discerning glare, until finally Nagisa saw him relent. He hoisted himself up on the cement partition wall next to them, getting himself as comfortable as he could. "Sort of," he said. "Listen, before I tell you anything, you gotta swear you won't tell Haru or Makoto. They don't know anything about it. Rei made me promise not to tell them back then. The only other person who knows is Gou, because I told her."

Nagisa remembered Gou's shifty disposition when Makoto was telling him about their childhood on the rooftop. He had thought something was up.

"I swear! I just want to know, for my own reasons."

The street around them was mostly vacant; any and all people surrounding them were hurrying along the street or chatting amongst themselves, not paying the two boys any mind. Nagisa felt like the two of them were far separated from the rest of the world at the moment, talking about some secret the both of them knew that the rest of the world couldn't understand.

"I noticed little things at first. I would lose things, I would trip and fall on the sidewalk even though my shoelaces were tied and there was nothing to trip on, stuff like that. Similar things were happening to Haru and Makoto, but it wasn't the same. They didn't notice at all… I mean, there was no _reason_ to notice. We were kids, we could take it. Kids just don't question stuff like that."

"I hardly questioned it either, but I probably should have," Nagisa admitted.

"Rei was getting really upset about it, though. I tripped and hit the lockers once at the swim club, busted my lip open, and even though I was laughing along with everyone else Rei seemed really freaked out. He ran out, and I went to go see what was wrong. He told me everything. I thought he was nuts until I started putting things together. And he was so _serious_ about it. I'd never seen anyone so serious about anything. I thought about all those bad horror movies I'd seen, where no one ever believes the main character because their story is so far-fetched... But you're just sitting there, yelling at the screen, because to _you_ it's all so obvious, you know?"

It was a strange metaphor, but Nagisa understood perfectly. He'd felt that same feeling when Rei had been explaining it to him the other day.

"So you knew about it before he quit the relay?" Nagisa asked, stunned.

"Yeah. I told him not to worry about it," Rin said with a frown. "I mean, what else was there to do? If that sort of thing was real, then it's not like there was anything we could do to stop it from happening. I told him to ignore it, and it would just go away."

"Obviously it didn't, right?"

"Well, obviously," Rin said in mock-sarcasm. He heaved a deep sigh. "I almost drowned during a practice." he explained, and Nagisa's mouth fell open. "Don't look like that, it's not like it's that uncommon when you're spending all your free-time _in water_. The real problem was how it happened. I was walking alongside the pool when some other kids were messing around with a kickboard and it slid across the floor at me. I stepped on it, slipped, hit my head on the side of the pool and went under. If the coach hadn't been so quick, I would have been a goner."

Nagisa looked down, focusing hard on the sidewalk. His heart felt strangely tight.

"And Rei blamed himself for that?"

Rin nodded. "I tried telling him that not _all_ bad luck was his fault. I tried pointing out that nothing that bad had happened to Haru or Makoto." He reddened, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm telling you this next part in like, the utmost confidence, okay? You tell anyone and I'll personally kick your fucking head in."

" _God_ Rin-chan, there's no need for death threats!" Nagisa squeaked indignantly.

"Okay okay, it's just… He told me that he liked me. _Like_ liked me, you know? He told me that he thought that was the reason I was so much more unlucky than the others. That the stronger the feelings, the worse the luck or something like that."

The pit of Nagisa's stomach was now tightening along with his chest, swirling around into an angry ball of pain that felt almost like a hornet's nest had moved in. Was this _jealousy_?

Rin sighed again, hopping down off of the wall and shoving his hands back in his pockets. "I've never told anyone that part." he admitted. Nagisa tilted his head.

"Why did you tell me, then?" Nagisa wondered aloud.

"Because you said something about almost being flattened by a fucking sign?" Rin said, flicking Nagisa's forehead. "And then there was the truck incident, too? Tripping into the street, right? Sounds a little bit familiar." He looked almost reproachful. "I know we just met or whatever, and this is a lot of personal crap, but I'm getting the feeling this is why you invited me here today."

"That's not the _only_ reason…" Nagisa said, still rubbing his forehead with his thumb. "I _did_ want to meet you, since you're friends with them. I wanted to be your friend too."

"Well, a bit of friendly advice, then," Rin said, sweeping some stray hair away from his face, "if you like Ryugazaki Rei, or he likes you, or both… Stop. It either ends with you getting seriously fucked up, or him pushing you away. Both options suck, so it would be a lot easier if you just… I don't know. Stay away from him, I guess."

After a lengthy silence in which Nagisa found himself incapable of filling, Rin gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder, mumbled a 'see you later', and walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa uses an analogy with the best of intentions.

Nagisa had never been very good at following instructions, and he was even worse at taking good advice.

This was why he was holding an armful of notebooks, textbooks and folders filled with papers as he stood outside Rei's apartment. This is also why he was knocking on the door, bottom lip between his teeth, his heart panging impatiently in his chest.

When Rei opened the door, he nearly started, his eyes going wide and his jaw clenching tightly as an automatic response. His face was red, and his hand was still frozen on the doorknob as if he was contemplating shutting it again. Nagisa didn't give him the chance and pushed through the opening, slipping off his shoes as Rei struggled to find appropriate words.

"I can come in, right?" chimed Nagisa, completely aware that his question was pointless.

"Nagisa-kun, why are you-"

"These," Nagisa answered, lifting the heavy load of books and other school items as if it were admission fare. "Your school work for today. And the rest is notes and stuff that I've been taking in class the last few days, just in case you wanted to look those over too. Although I'm not sure how comprehensive they'll be…"

Rei shook his head. "No, I mean, why is it _you_? I thought that-"

"I offered to take them. The teacher didn't seem to care who took them so long as they got here. I also mentioned that I'd been to your house before and that I live close-by, so I wouldn't get lost or anything." Nagisa looked around the hall with wide, searching eyes. "Where should I put them?"

Sighing, Rei gestured down the hall toward his bedroom. Nagisa was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't getting the items ripped from his hands and being forced out the door.

Stepping into Rei's room again was strange. The edge of his vision was blearily focused on the wall where he and Rei had kissed, and whenever he was tempted to glance at it, his head buzzed. He set down the books on Rei's glass table, purposefully looking away to focus on the bespectacled teenager who was _also_ keeping his gaze far away from that place.

"So… How is everything with your family? Is everything okay?" Nagisa asked. He was pretty damn sure there was nothing happening with his family at all, that he was avoiding seeing Nagisa instead, but he didn't want to jump to such insensitive conclusions in case he was wrong.

Rei confirmed his suspicions with a guilty look, unable to meet his eye. "Everything's fine," he said. "Listen… I really don't think that you should be here. Thank you for bringing me all of this, but I believe when we talked before, I-"

"You wouldn't have let me come in if you really felt that way, right?" Nagisa cut in with a smile and a wink. Rei flushed. The blonde suddenly tossed a look around the room as if noticing something for the first time, his hands on his hips. "Hey, do you live alone? There never seems to be anyone here."

"Ah," Rei sighed and raised a hand to his forehead in defeat. "Yes, I live alone. It's not unusual for us to be separated from the rest of the family. For safety reasons."

' _Us'_. He was doubtlessly talking about the jinxed members of his family. So many questions rose to Nagisa's throat all at once it almost caused him to blurt out something stupid, but he bit his tongue. Did it affect family members, too? How did one discover that they were cursed, for that matter? Was there a sort of 'trial period' for newborns, to wait and see if horrible things happened around them? What about the parents? How was Rei raised, if his family saw fit to isolate him from the rest of the family?

No. He couldn't ask any of those questions now. There would be time for all of that later, provided that he could convince Rei to put aside a lifetime of self-hatred to give Nagisa the time of day.

Nagisa laughed awkwardly. "Sooo… Homework aside, I came for another reason, too."

"Nagisa-kun-" Rei started in a disapproving tone, but Nagisa stubbornly sat down at Rei's glass coffee table, making himself comfortable.

"Nope, not listening! Hear me out Rei-chan, please? I'm already here, what harm could it do?"

Rei frowned prominently at Nagisa for a good long moment before reluctantly sitting himself down opposite the other boy, placing his hands firmly on his knees as if bracing himself. Nagisa sucked in a deep breath.

"I've had time to think about everything. Like, _really_ think." Nagisa started. "And I decided that I don't care."

Rei narrowed his eyes questioningly. "You don't… Care? About what, exactly?"

"I don't care about your curse, your bad luck or whatever it is. I believe that it's all true, but the more I think about it, the more I just don't care."

There was a silence that Nagisa took as thoughtful. Rei's expression was difficult to discern. "It isn't up to you." he finally answered, and Nagisa puffed out his cheeks.

"Oh, come oooon!" Nagisa whined, with a half-smile. "You're still giving me that? I'm telling you that I don't care! I know about everything now, I can be careful! Nothing's happened to me in _days_."

"This sort of thing doesn't work on a schedule." Rei answered, his voice low. "Something's bound to happen, the longer you associate with me."

Nagisa grinned, tossing his hair in mock-cockiness. "And I'll be ready for it! That kind of stuff won't catch me unaware anymore. It's really not that hard, if you think about it. I'll be really careful."

He could tell by watching Rei's movements that he was going to try arguing. Nagisa planted both his hands on the table and leveled Rei an overly stoic look. " _You can't be careful with something like this, Nagisa-kun,_ " he said in a deeper voice, mimicking Rei so eerily well that Rei reddened and looked away with his lips pursed. "I'm serious, Rei-chan. I want to try being your friend, if you'll let me."

"Why?" Rei asked, before Nagisa could stop him. "Why would you put yourself in harms way for something like that?" He was looking at Nagisa very seriously, and Nagisa felt himself smile.

"Because I like you." he answered easily. For the first time since he entered the apartment, Nagisa saw Rei's features soften. It was almost like his muscles had relaxed all at once, so much so that it looked like he could burst into tears at any moment. The expression hardened a moment later, to Nagisa's disappointment. It seemed as if he'd summoned extra resolve from somewhere.

"I'm sorry, but it just isn't possible," Rei said, crossing his arms. Nagisa let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Rei-ch _aaaa_ n…" Talking to this guy was harder than anything Nagisa had ever done before.

"Don't misunderstand my decision for a lack of appreciation. I'm…" Rei sucked in breath, as if the words were stuck somewhere behind his tongue, "...grateful. But it's simply not possible. So-"

"Would you be totally against me doing some crazy dangerous sport? Like skydiving?" Nagisa asked suddenly, and Rei looked at him with a surprised expression.

"Skydiving?"

"Yeah. Skydiving."

"Well…" Rei started, holding his chin in thought, "I couldn't tell you what to do. But surely some people would be against you doing it."

"But it would be up to the individual, right?" Nagisa implored with an impish smile. "I've had a lot of time to think about this. This is like skydiving. If I really want to learn to skydive, maybe my mom would be against it because she'd be worried, but if I was persistent enough, she'd let me. And I could grow up and skydive professionally and no one would stop me."

Rei frowned. "I don't think these things are at all comparable."

"I think they are!" Nagisa chimed, pointing a finger in the air. "It's taking a risk. I'm taking a risk here, but it's my choice, and my choice alone."

Rei adjusted his glasses, his brow furrowed and his eyes trained on Nagisa with a frightening amount of focus.

"Then I have one question for you."

"Hm?"

"Following along with your analogy, if the skydiver's parachute malfunctions and he hits the ground, does the plane feel responsible for his death?"

Nagisa's face fell. "Well, no, but-"

"Then that's the difference."

"Rei-chan-"

"No!" Rei stood up. He looked as if he was bristling with anger, and Nagisa felt his heart sink. Why was he _angry_ about this? Wasn't he supposed to feel supported? "Do you hear what you're saying? You're completely selfish!"

Nagisa felt anger bubble in his stomach, rising like bile into his throat to begin forming indignant words. " _Selfish_? How did you get _that_ from what I'm saying to you?"

Rei's breathing was harsh and steady, causing his chest to heave. "The skydiver only has _himself_ to blame if he dies participating in such a dangerous behavior. It isn't the pilot's fault, or the plane's fault, either. If the parachute doesn't deploy, that must also be accepted as an occupational hazard. But if something happens to _you_ because of _me_ , whose fault is that?"

"It would be mine!" Nagisa countered.

" _That's why you're selfish_!" Rei shouted. Nagisa fell into a stunned silence. "It doesn't matter if you insist you 'don't care' and put yourself in danger, because at the end of the day, _I_ care, and _I_ would be _absolutely devastated_ if something happened to you!"

Rei was practically screaming at this point, yelling at Nagisa so loudly that his words left a sharp ringing in the air when they'd gone. Nagisa felt like crying. It wasn't just that Rei was yelling at him, it was the pain in Rei's voice. The pain he put there. He realized all at once that Rei was right. Instead of giving up and leaving Rei alone, here he was again, forcing his way into Rei's life. He was making everything harder for him. He had knowingly pierced that big protective bubble against Rei's wishes, imagining the whole time that he was doing it for Rei's benefit, when really it had been for himself. Because he was unable to give up on it.

Rin's words from the other day rang in his ears with painful clarity. He should have listened to him then. It was exactly as he had predicted.

A steady sigh caught Nagisa's attention, and Rei was looking sick with himself, his eyes averted and his hands balled into fists, clenched at his sides. "I'm transferring schools," he said, softly. Nagisa felt his eyes go wide, but he wasn't sure what to say. He opted for staring at Rei silently, waiting for him to continue.

"It's mandatory in my family when something like… _this…_ occurs. I'm mailing the transcripts tomorrow. I'll also be notifying Iwatobi High. You can just forget about me and go about your life, Nagisa-kun. It really is better that way." Rei sounded broken. Nagisa had made him this way. If only he hadn't meddled so much, if only he'd kept his distance when he was asked to, this never would have happened. He could blame it on the pencil case, or circumstance, but the blame rested solely with him. Rei could have stayed here, and even if they'd never be friends, he could have continued to see him every day. The thought of Rei disappearing from his life completely wrung his heart like nothing he'd ever felt before. He would rather have the old Rei back, the one that was curt and rude and never spoke kindly to him, than the Rei standing before him now. He would be content with just that.

These thoughts driving him, Nagisa stood up, hands clenched at his chest. "N-no, Rei-chan, please stay!" he heard himself saying. The unintentional pleading nature of his request caused his ears to redden in shame. "I'm sorry! I really am, I wasn't thinking, I… Please don't go! You don't have to leave, I'll leave you alone from now on, I swear!"

"It isn't your fault," Rei said, with a smile that was trembling just at the edges. The sight of it broke Nagisa's heart in two. _Why are you saying that_ now _? With a face like that?_

"I really am happy that you'd want to do all of that, just to be my friend. No one's ever done that for me before. I'm sorry it has to be like this."

Nagisa felt tears burning at his eyes once again. He had always been quick to tears, whether he was happy or sad it usually didn't matter, but lately he felt like such a crybaby it was embarrassing.

" _Really_ , Rei-chan, I mean it! I get it now, okay? I really will leave you alone from now on, so you don't have to leave! You can stay, I won't even talk to you, I promise!"

Rei shook his head. "I appreciate it. But I meant what I said. It isn't your fault. Even if you never spoke to me again…" Rei's gaze dropped, and he rubbed his arm. "I told you before. It goes both ways. I can't help but like you, Nagisa-kun. If you're around me…" he fell silent. He shook his head. "If you're around me, it's impossible."

Nagisa ignored the hot tears that were sliding down his pink cheeks. Rei's words were so painful to listen to, it was incredible. He would have rather been yelled at, screamed at, kicked out of the apartment, _anything_... Hearing Rei speak to him in such a gentle, conflicted voice was far worse. Every word was sharpened to a point and piercing his chest. What was this feeling? He knew by now that he liked Rei as more than a friend, but was there more to it than that?

Nagisa's head was swimming. He wasn't sure when it had started, but the lights in Rei's room seemed to be getting brighter by the second, and he vaguely wondered why.

"Nagisa-kun...? What's wrong?"

Rei's voice sounded as if it were coming from an old-fashioned radio. The lights were getting even brighter, and Nagisa's eyes were quickly losing focus on his surroundings. The corners of his vision were blacked out, the penetrating darkness progressively spreading out and decreasing Nagisa's field of sight. What was going on?

He could hear Rei's voice speaking to him urgently, but he couldn't make out the words. He sounded far away, and Nagisa felt like he was falling away from the voice. He let himself fall. It felt sort of good to fall, actually. Maybe he could just sleep for a while and forget any of this ever happened.

That was his last thought before unconsciousness took him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i started out wanting to write a cute fluffy slice-of-life Reigisa fic
> 
> what happened
> 
> it got so angsty?? and i just?? please forgive me orz


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagisa gets a little perspective, and Rei dabbles in being selfish.

Nagisa never remembered waking up feeling so exhausted.

It took him several moments to focus on what he was seeing. He was staring at a ceiling, but it wasn't his ceiling. His limbs felt like lead, and his head was throbbing with a dull pain. Where was he? What happened? Nagisa summoned the strength to turn his head as his eyes sluggishly adjusted to the darkness of the room. An object slid off of his forehead and landed with a plop on the bed. He squinted at it, confused. It looked like a hand cloth, folded neatly, slightly damp. There was a window above him if he looked to the left, the shutters drawn, evening light trickling through the gaps. What time was it?

Nagisa turned the other way, groaning as he did so. Was this…? He cast his eyes on the glass coffee table where his notebooks were still sprawled out amongst Rei's homework. His stomach flopped upside down. He was in Rei's room? In his _bed_?

Rei didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. Where was he? Nagisa laid his arm over his eyes, furiously trying to think of the last thing he could remember. Surreal memories began to form. He and Rei had gotten into something of an argument. Rei told him he was transferring schools. And… And then what? His memory stopped there.

Reaching under the blankets, Nagisa felt around for his phone. Locating it, he pulled it out and flipped it open. The time read 7:05pm. He felt a jolt of panic. He hadn't told his mother he was going to Rei's house, because he was sure he would have made it home for dinner. There were three unread texts, and with a sinking feeling he selected them. All from his mother. Biting his tongue, he sent her a hasty reply, explaining that he had gotten caught up hanging out with a friend while they were studying, making sure to throw an apology at the end before closing his phone and letting out a long sigh. Dull pain was still thumping persistently behind his eyes.

Nagisa sat up, his body feeling heavy. Something bright white caught his eye, a note stuck to the shelf just at the head of the bed. Nagisa moved his face closer to read it. The writing was beautiful and precise.

_I'll be back very soon. I'm stepping out to the store to get some things. Please stay in bed. Do not move around too much. You have a very light fever._

_\- Rei_

Staring at the note as if more words would appear the longer he looked, Nagisa felt a cold stab of embarrassment. Had he _fainted_? Right in front of Rei? _Just after_ he had realized how much trouble he had caused him? He reached for the hand cloth, picking it up. Rei had carried him to his bed, covered him up, and even put a cool cloth on his forehead. He went to all that trouble, even after Nagisa had forced his way into his apartment.

Nagisa sunk back into the bed with a mortified groan, pulling the blankets up around his shoulders. He actually _fainted_. Unbelievable. No matter _what_ he did, he caused trouble for Rei. Shutting his eyes, Nagisa pressed his face into Rei's pillow. It smelled like him. A pleasant but subtle smell; what kind of shampoo did Rei use? Whatever the scent, it calmed Nagisa down, if only by a little. Nagisa breathed in deeply. Rei's scent. He was in his bed. Why was that making his chest flutter?

His childish thoughts were immediately squashed by the thought of Rei returning. What was he going to say? What _could_ he say? He was just about to excuse himself from Rei's life forever, and here he was, depending on Rei more than ever. He felt like a horrible person. Nagisa felt tears rush him again, and did nothing to stop them. Curled in a ball with his face pressed into the pillow, Nagisa cried softly, feeling utterly ashamed of himself.

He hadn't realized until Rei had exploded on him earlier. He had selfishly turned Rei's life upside down, all because he couldn't respect Rei's wishes. Everyone else in school got the hint. Rei only had to reject them once, and they stayed away from him. Why couldn't he? Why had he been so incapable of doing the same?

Nagisa's head was swimming. Was the fever making him this emotional, or was it something else? The crying certainly wasn't making him feel any better, and within a couple of minutes, Nagisa's troubled thoughts were dashed away as he slipped into sleep for the second time.

.

.

.

The sound of the front door closing snapped Nagisa awake. He must not have been out for long, as it felt like he had only just closed his eyes moments ago. The realization that Rei was home caused his pulse to quicken, cold panic spreading from his cheeks to his toes. He hadn't yet decided on what to say. Should he have just left earlier? Would that have been better? From the other room, Nagisa can hear the rustling of plastic grocery bags. He felt crushing guilt mix in with the panic. Could he really leave after Rei went to the trouble of buying things for him? Wait, were they even _for_ him? The note hadn't explicitly said so. What if he just put Nagisa in his bed because he didn't know what else to do with him, and then went shopping because he needed to? Nagisa shut his eyes, trying to discern why he was wasting time thinking about such ridiculously unimportant things. It must be the fever. Yep. The fever.

Still, his heart was racing. He could now hear Rei moving around, in the kitchen, he assumed, and he wasn't sure what to do. In the end he decided to do nothing. He laid in Rei's bed, covers pulled up to his chin, listening intently to the sounds floating from the other room. After several minutes, a faint smell drifted into the bedroom, a smell that Nagisa couldn't easily identify.

A few minutes more rolled by before Nagisa heard Rei approaching the bedroom, and his heart jumped into his throat. The door, left only slightly ajar, opened slowly, light from the hallway spilling over the floor.

"Nagisa-kun…?"

There was an awkward silence as Nagisa lay there in the dark, unsure on whether or not he wanted to feign sleep. From the doorway he could see that Rei was holding a wooden tray holding a mug. The terrible guilt washed over him again, and he couldn't bring himself to play dead.

"Uh… Yeah."

At Nagisa's shaky reply, Rei opened the door wider to allow more light in and stepped toward the bed. Nagisa felt his face heat up, and he struggled with giving Rei any sort of eye contact.

"How do you feel?" Rei asked, worry in his voice.

His concern only amplified the guilt and embarrassment. "I'm okay, I think," Nagisa answered.

"Can you sit up?" came Rei's next question.

Nagisa nodded, and did so, his head only minimally throbbing. "Rei-chan… I'm really, really sorry, I had no idea I was even sick. I promise I didn't plan this, or…"

Rei pulled his chair up to the bed and carefully placed the tray in Nagisa's lap. Nagisa glanced down to regard the steaming mug, which appeared to be half-full of green tea.

"It's fine," Rei said seriously. "Please drink this. It's green tea, as you can tell, but I also added some honey and lemon. The natural sugar in the honey should help you recover from your fainting spell, and lemon is known to boost the immune system and aid in digestion."

Watching Rei with wide eyes while he spoke, Nagisa's mouth fell open. "W-wow, Rei-chan, uhh… Thanks. You really didn't have to go to all that trouble."

"Like I said, it's fine." Rei said. His tone was hard to read. Nagisa distracted himself by carefully picking up the mug of tea, blowing over it, and taking a drink. The liquid sent pleasant shivers down his spine as it flowed down his throat, warming him on the inside. The taste of lemon was bold and lingering, but it was nicely counterbalanced by the honey.

"I have rice porridge cooking, as well. It should be ready soon. I'd feel better if you ate something before going home, so that your risk of fainting again is lower."

The smell from the kitchen now made more sense, since it hadn't smelled like green tea in the slightest. Nagisa reddened. "Rei-chan, _porridge_ too?" he asked, astonished. "You _really_ didn't have to so much trouble!" The guilt was almost suffocating. After everything Nagisa had done, Rei was still being so kind to him.

Rei turned away, focusing his eyes on his shelves. "I told you, it's no trouble," he said softly. Out of consideration for his hard work, Nagisa again brought the mug of tea to his lips, taking another large gulp, savoring the feeling of warmth that spread down his throat.

"I really didn't know I was sick. It hit me really fast." Nagisa's eyes trailed to the tray in his lap, and a sudden thought hit him. Maybe he could salvage some his pride with this situation after all? "I actually can't remember everything clearly. I might have said some weird stuff or something, so if I did, I seriously apologize. So… Just forget everything I said, okay?"

Through the darkness, it was hard to tell what Rei's face looked like. The light from the hallway was casting light at his back, illuminating strands of his hair and the outline of his shoulders, which only made seeing his expression that much harder.

"I see," he said, his voice different from before. Had that been the wrong thing to say? Rei stood up, turning around and heading back to the door. "The porridge should be done soon. Please drink the tea and rest." Before Nagisa could reply, Rei disappeared into the hallway, pulling the door closed, leaving only a small gap.

Nagisa stared at the door, feeling miserable. When he was around Rei, he seriously didn't feel like he could do anything right. Despite the tears that were beginning to cloud his vision, Nagisa drank the rest of the tea.

.

.

.

It wasn't long before Rei returned with the rice porridge. Nagisa's ears burned in embarrassment when Rei carefully set the steaming bowl on the wooden tray in his lap.

"Thank you…" Nagisa said again, quietly.

Rei didn't even directly reply this time. "Let it cool off a little before eating any. Please let me know if you start feeling faint right away, I'll just be in the other room." Without making eye contact, he turned and stepped toward the door.

Despite everything he'd been telling himself since he'd woken up in Rei's bed, Nagisa couldn't leave it like this. He couldn't let their final interactions end this way.

"Rei-chan, wait!"

Rei stopped, his hand on the door handle. His heart hammering wildly, Nagisa sucked in a breath. "I know I've already said so… But I'm really sorry for everything, Rei-chan. I don't just mean today, either. I mean I'm sorry about bothering you at school, and I'm sorry for making everything so difficult for you. So if you really have to transfer schools, I just want to at _least_ leave things on a good note, if we can… So…" Once again Nagisa found himself spewing words that hadn't yet been approved in the logic center of his brain, but he had been overcome with a desperate feeling. He didn't want Rei to dislike him. Even if he could never see Rei again, he couldn't stand the idea of Rei hating him even a little bit.

He felt the tears coming again, pooling at his bottom lashes as he focused on the bowl of porridge in his lap. He was so focused, he hadn't noticed that Rei had reappeared at his bedside, sitting himself down once again in the chair with a sigh. Nagisa looked up at him in surprise.

"No, _I'm_ sorry," Rei started. Nagisa watched him mutely. "I'm sorry for calling you selfish." he said, "I've had my whole life to get used to this. You've only known for a few days. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that, before. It was terribly crass."

Nagisa felt a wave of relief hit him like the tide. He realized he had been so absorbed in self-loathing he hadn't even considered that Rei could forgive him, let alone take any responsibility for their earlier conflict.

"No, it's okay. I understand why you did. Until you put it that bluntly, I didn't realize how much I was pushing myself on you." he laughed humorlessly, wiping at his eyes hastily. "I really don't know how to take a hint, I guess."

Rei's shoulders sagged a notch, barely noticeable, but Nagisa was getting good at noticing the unnoticable. "Well… I said it before, but it remains true that no one has ever tried so hard to… get close to me," he was choosing his words carefully, and Nagisa wondered if it was because they were mere feet away from the spot where they had both made it abundantly clear that they were interested in more than just friendship days previous. "I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't grateful for that. Even if it couldn't last for very long, it was nice to feel…" Rei glanced away in thought, his chest swelling with a deep sigh. " _normal_ , for a change." he said on the exhale.

A tense silence followed his words. Nagisa's mind was filled to the brim with things he wanted to say, but he ate a couple of spoonfuls of rice porridge instead. It was only when he saw Rei shift in his seat, the threat of leaving, that Nagisa opened his mouth to fill the silence.

"Rei-chan…" he started, halting Rei in his movement, "Would it be okay if I asked a couple of questions? I mean… While I'm here anyway… And since you've leaving and everything… Am I… _allowed_ to ask some things?"

Rei watched Nagisa evenly as he spoke, and when he was finished, Rei considered it in silence. Finally, he closed his eyes and nodded. "There aren't any rules against talking about it. I suppose it's because no one would likely believe any of it, anyway. This is a pretty rare circumstance. So… I would say it's fine." He fidgeted slightly. "What did you want to know?"

A surge of bittersweet excitement shot through Nagisa, and he summoned a smile. "Wow, where to start? Uhh…" He brought a finger to his chin, staring at the ceiling. "Well… Okay, you mentioned your family, so I can't help wondering… Does this jinx affect family members?"

Rei shook his head. "Not that we can tell. Blood relatives don't seem to suffer any effects."

"Oh." Honestly, that hadn't been the answer Nagisa had been expecting. "So… Before, you said that you were seperated for safety reasons…?"

"It isn't that kind of safety," Rei explained. To Nagisa's relief, it didn't seem like this line of questioning was bothering Rei at all. In fact, he spoke of it all incredibly stoically, as if he were reciting mathematical equations, free from all passion. "Those of us who carry the curse aren't very fondly looked at by the rest of the family. It's a bit like having a genetic mutation passed down along the family line. It's unsightly, and usually the family just doesn't want to deal with it."

The way Rei spoke of it unnerved Nagisa deeply. He compared it to a _mutation…_ Was that how Rei saw himself? A genetic mistake?

"The Ryugazaki estates are big enough that sometimes a cursed individual will be granted permission to live on the grounds, but it's not exactly ideal. It's much easier to live elsewhere on your own, so that if any problems crop up, it doesn't have to come back to the family."

Nagisa felt another stab of guilt. Because of Nagisa's meddling, Rei presumably had to inform his family of the situation, and they had to arrange for a school transfer. It sounded as if Rei had elected to live on his own to avoid that very circumstance.

"So… Your parents…?"

"They live somewhere in the Hino District, last I heard." he said, still very matter-of-factly.

 _Last I heard_? Did his parents even talk to him regularly? Who had he talked to most recently, if not his parents? A swelling of bitterness rose in the pit of his stomach. From the sounds of it, Rei's family treated those who were cursed like they were… Well, cursed. It sounded awful, but Rei seemed incredibly numb to it. He had accepted it a long time ago. This sort of detached acceptance made Nagisa more sad than anything else.

"I see," Nagisa answered, not confident that he wanted to continue asking questions about Rei's family. Even if it wasn't bothering Rei, it was certainly bothering _him_. Still, a related question floated to the top of his mind. "You said that blood relatives aren't affected, right? So then how does… You know, like, when people get together… And have a baby? How does that work if you…"

Rei smiled a bit sadly. "...If we're so dangerous to be around?" he finished Nagisa's statement, and Nagisa frowned reproachfully and nodded. "Relationships outside of the family are usually frowned upon for us. Since blood relatives are safe, any and all marriages approved by the family are usually between distant cousins. But that's a very old practice and hasn't been done in recent years, or so I hear. No one in the family usually wants to associate with us to begin with. I've heard stories of some of the cursed 'falling in love' or something to that effect, running off together, that sort of thing, however."

Nagisa's eyes were round. "And?"

Rei's expression seemed to cloud. " _And_ it ends exactly how you'd expect. They usually end the relationship before things get too severe, but I've heard of a few who took it too far." Nagisa must have been looking as if he wanted a definitive ending to that train of thought, because Rei responded with a sad smile. "It isn't hard to put together. You've almost been hit by a truck and a giant neon sign. Just imagine if we…" He adjusted his glasses, averting his eyes. "If we were more _friendly_. It can't end well."

The familiar sinking struck Nagisa right in his chest, the feeling of losing any and all hope. This really was impossible, wasn't it?

"So, they just expect you to live on your own for the rest of your life?" Nagisa asked, against his better judgement. "Alone going to school, alone going to work? You're just… _Not allowed_ to have anyone in your life? Ever?" He hadn't meant to sound so bitter about it, but he was finding it difficult to curb his emotions.

"I know it's hard for you to understand, Nagisa-kun," Rei said calmly, "but it's really the only option. It's far better than it used to be. Not even a hundred years ago, they were killing infants as soon as they showed signs of the curse. As recently as fifty years ago, cursed individuals were kept in dark rooms, cut off from everyone and everything their entire lives."

"That's horrible…" Nagisa breathed, unbelieving. Killing infants, locking people away… The thought was unreal to him.

Rei nodded, although he still looked incredibly passion-free. "I consider myself fortunate that I can at least lead my own life and make my own decisions, for the most part."

Nagisa wasn't sure what to say so he fell silent and looked to his bowl of porridge. He felt conflicted. Although he had certainly thought of the implications of having such a curse, hearing Rei say all these things were a bit surreal. Pushing more porridge into his mouth, he nodded. Rei went thoughtfully silent as well.

"Nagisa-kun," the dark-haired man spoke softly, his hands folded tightly in his lap. Nagisa swallowed a mouthful of food and stared at Rei expectantly. "About what you said before… I want you to know that you didn't make anything difficult for me. Having you around me, talking to me, it hasn't been unpleasant. I mean it when I say I'm sorry. If I were normal, then…" Rei trailed off, his hands looking to be squeezing the life out of each other. Nagisa watched him evenly, trying to decide how to answer.

"I guess I have another question," Nagisa said finally. Rei looked up.

"What is it?"

Nagisa's eyes were focused on the shape of his own knees under the blankets. "You said that this situation was rare. That means that you and me having feelings for each other is the rare thing, right?"

Immediately Rei's face flushed, the bluntness of the question taking him obviously off-guard. He adjusted his glasses to hide his red face. "Y-yes."

"So it doesn't happen often, then? Someone like you having these kinds of interactions with someone else?"

Rei's brow furrowed in confusion. The line of questioning was clearly confounding him. "I told you, it isn't supposed to happen. No close relationships."

Nagisa's brain was churning. Either the porridge was helping him think more clearly than before, or he had just hit on something, he wasn't sure which. "Is there a distance limit on the curse?" came Nagisa's next question. Rei blinked at him, unprepared for the sudden deviation in the line of questioning.

"No, not that we know of."

"So it can affect other people, no matter how far away they are?"

"Yes." Rei said, frowning. "Nagisa-kun, what are you-"

Nagisa interrupted with a laugh, light and bubbly, being careful not to knock over the bowl of porridge as he shifted in bed. He met Rei's confused gaze, still laughing. "Rei-chan, _you're_ the selfish one!"

Rei was too bewildered to be offended. "Pardon?"

Calming himself down, Nagisa held his stomach. Laughing took way too much energy, but he just couldn't help it. They were both so _fucking stupid_.

"Rei-chan… You've told me a couple of times now that you have feelings for me. I didn't really think of it like that either time, because it wasn't really a _confession_ , you were just saying things in plain terms. But no matter how you look at it, you told me you liked me."

Rei straightened, face contorting into one of embarrassed indignance. "What good does bringing _this_ up do us?"

"You never let me answer you." Nagisa pointed out with a smile. "I know why you didn't, so it's okay. You didn't think it mattered because you thought it wouldn't change anything. But you were really, really wrong."

"How so?" Rei asked, subdued.

Nagisa laughed again. "Feelings don't just go away, Rei-chan! I like you, you know? I know that I'm selfish, but I really like you, and even after everything, I still feel that way. If this stupid bad luck can affect me even if you transfer schools, then what? You're just gonna leave me here to deal with it while you run away?"

Rei opened his mouth to retort, but quickly lost the will to do so when he realized Nagisa was right. He shut his mouth, his expression melting into something more chastised. He glanced away, brow furrowed. "I… Didn't think of it like that." he admitted softly. He looked back at Nagisa with sudden resurrected conviction. "But there's nothing else to do! Feelings fade with time. It's not a perfect solution, but it's the only one there is."

"Bzzzt. Wrong!" Nagisa chimed in a convincing game-show host voice, winking. "What if you like me for a really long time, or vise versa? You know, you were my first kiss. That's gonna take a while to get over."

"That's not - w-wait, _really_?" Rei asked in shock, face red and shoulders rigid. Nagisa giggled.

" _What I'm saying_ is that you're going to run off and leave me to deal with this bad luck all by myself. You saved me from that falling sign, right? That could have turned out really bad, but it didn't. And when I fell in the street, Haru-chan happened by and helped me. I think that's good luck, not bad luck. I think if you're with me, it will be fine."

He wasn't sure if what he was saying was right or not, but it _felt_ right. He was being selfish. He'd always been selfish when it came to Rei, he knew that now, but he didn't care. He wanted to be with Rei, and he wanted to help him. Ever since he'd first seen Rei on the train, he wanted to tear away that protective bubble that Rei lived inside. He had done that, he had seen the Rei that was underneath, but it wasn't enough. It was hard to tell if teenage hormones were to blame or whether it was something else entirely, but Nagisa suspected it was something more profound.

Rei watched Nagisa with large eyes, looking distinctly speechless. Nagisa smiled at him. "You should be a little _more_ selfish, Rei-chan. You should let yourself have something for once."

"But…" Rei looked down, his hands gripping his knees, his resolve crumbling. Nagisa had the strong urge to hug him, but instead he brought a hand to Rei's face, gently touching his cheek. With an almost reflexive jerk, Rei looked up at Nagisa with surprised eyes shining with water.

"Rei-chan… I like you." Nagisa said seriously. "I like you a lot."

There were moments that Nagisa acknowledged as being completely timeless. They were moments that didn't seem to have a beginning or an end, or maybe they did, if only rearranged. It was usually because he was too tired or things were moving too fast - he was sure that everyone experienced moments like these - but right now it was happening because he had never expected to see Rei cry. It was hard to make out in the darkness, but Rei had lowered his head and pulled off his glasses, his breathing tight and hitching, and without thinking Nagisa was pulling him closer. Rei didn't resist. He was clinging to Nagisa and Nagisa was wrapping his arms under Rei's and holding him close. It had all happened so fast, he had nearly forgot about the half-eaten bowl of porridge in his lap.

Rei's body was warm against his, stroking a flame. While time remained at a standstill, Rei's hands were slipping through Nagisa's hair as he breathed in his ear, and Nagisa felt the pit of his stomach flutter.

"Say it again…" Rei said weakly, his throat tight with the tears he was trying hard to hold back. The sound of it shattered Nagisa's heart into more pieces than he could count.

"I like you," Nagisa repeated softly, and Rei held him more tightly, a sob causing his shoulders to twitch. Nagisa pulled away just enough to push their mouths together, kissing Rei with days worth of pent-up frustration, less ravenous than ardent; Rei responded with unreserved enthusiasm, blindly grabbing for the tray of porridge and setting it haphazardly aside.

Breathless and clumsy, Rei leaned forward into the kiss, resting a knee on the edge of the bed for support as Nagisa impatiently pulled him in. Much like their first encounter, Nagisa's mind was not operating outside the spectrum of raging teenage hormones; it was a hazy mess of poorly planned actions, the smell of Rei's skin and the amazingly slick feeling of his tongue pushing its way into his mouth intoxicating him beyond all reason.

Despite his total abandonment of restraint, there was still a small voice expressing concern somewhere in the back of Nagisa's sensory-overloaded brain. Is it okay to be doing this? Is this moving too fast? They hadn't even had a proper date yet. Rei didn't seem like the type to take things too incredibly far so quickly, but Nagisa wasn't sure if he minded either way.

Rei's hands slid up his shirt, fingers gently tracing his sides, which felt somewhat ticklish. Nagisa giggled into Rei's mouth, unable to stop himself.

He was glad he had, in a way; both of them were abruptly brought back to reality, the break in the intimacy giving both of them a chance to evaluate what was happening. Rei pulled away, lips flushed and parted to allow shallow breaths.

"I'm sorry… I…"

"Rei-chan, don't apologize," Nagisa said, grinning. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's normal to kiss someone you like."

Rei adjusted his glasses, his face still flushed red from crying and from the encounter. He looked to be calming down, although he still seemed a bit flustered. "So... We like each other. And since those feelings aren't likely to go away easily, you're basically proposing that we...?"

"Date!" Nagisa easily finished for him. "Not only that, but I want to help you find a way to break this curse thing. That way, you won't be concerned about us being together, right?"

Even in the darkness of the room, it was obvious that Rei was leveling him an incredulous expression. "You want to _what_?" he asked, as if he hadn't understood the words. "Our family has been afflicted since before our recorded history. You think that we could miraculously discover a way around it, when so many others have tried before us?"

Nagisa answered him with a quick kiss on the cheek, successfully causing Rei to fall into a state of embarrassed silence. "Yep!" Nagisa chirped. "Starting as soon as possible, project PRINCE'S KISS will commence!"

Rei tilted his head in confusion, cheeks still dusted pink. " _Prince's Kiss_?" he asked, his English sloppier than Nagisa's. "Why are we calling it _that_ , exactly?"

"Isn't that what usually breaks the curse, in fairy tales?" Nagisa wondered aloud, crossing his arms.

Rei considered this for a moment before letting slip a chuckle, hiding it behind his knuckles. "I suppose so." He smiled, a warm brand of smile that Nagisa was sure he had never seen grace Rei's lips. "I guess there's no more fighting it, when your mind is this made up."

Despite his overflowing happiness, Nagisa's smile faded, and a lingering fear tightened in his chest. "I'm not trying to force myself on you again, Rei-chan, I just thought that-"

"You aren't forcing yourself on me at all," Rei answered resolutely. "If it weren't for your persistence, I wouldn't be this happy right now."

Nagisa felt a rush of relief, and a twinge of excitement. "Happy?"

Rei nodded with a smile. "Yes." he paused, and then, "Please finish your rice porridge, and then I'll walk you home, if you're feeling well enough."

"You'll walk me home, Rei-chan? Really?" Nagisa asked, bringing the tray back over to his lap and scooping a spoonful of the luke-warm food into his mouth. Rei hummed an affirmative.

"Of course!" he half-chided, turning his head to stare distractedly at the bookshelf. "It's proper etiquette for a b-boyfriend to follow, or so I understand."

If he hadn't had a mouthful of porridge, Nagisa would have heavily considered kissing Rei again. And again. And possibly again after that.

Instead, he hurried to finish his food, trying hard not to smile like an idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~these fuckin nerd lords~~
> 
> ~~fiNALLy these idiots are in a relationship! (of sorts) I feel like it took me way too long to build all of that up. I think my original plan was that they were going to get together in chapter 3 or 4.... What the hell happened???~~
> 
> ~~More shark-boy in the next chapter(probably). Don't make shit awkward, Rin.~~
> 
> That's all, folks! Sorry for all the unresolved stuff... I was gonna do a lot of stuff with Rei's family, expand on the nature of the curse and even have Nagisa and Rei break the curse with their eternal love or smth idk. All that's important is that they get together, lovey dovey stuff happens and they live happily ever after!!


End file.
